Iris Murdoch: Texts and Contexts

by A. Rowe (Editor)

Overview

Using unpublished archive material, including correspondence and the many annotations Murdoch made to the books held in her Oxford library, this book offers fresh insights into Murdoch's work by placing it within a diversity of new contexts. It also reveals startling parallels between Murdoch's work and other literary and philosophical texts.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780230348288
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	07/30/2012
Edition description:	2012
Pages:	258
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

DON CUPITT Emeritus Professor, University of Cambridge, UK PAUL S. FIDDES Professor of Systematic Theology, University of Oxford, UK MARK LUPRECHT Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies, University of Tennessee, USA TONY MILLIGAN Teaching Fellow, University of Aberdeen, UK ELAINE MORLEY Associate Lecturer, University of Kent, UK ALEX RAMON Lecturer, Kingston University, UK JANFARIE SKINNER Independent scholar, UK SARA UPSTONE Principal Lecturer, Kingston University, UK WENDY VAIZEY Lecturer, Kingston University, UK PATRICIA WAUGH Professor, Durham University, UK FRANCES WHITE Assistant to the Director of the Centre for Iris Murdoch Studies, Kingston University, UK HEATHER WIDDOWS Professor, University of Birmingham, UK

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements vii

Notes on Contributors viii

List of Abbreviations xii

Introduction Anne Rowe Avril Homer 1

Part 1 Theological and Visionary Contexts

1 Iris Murdoch: A Case of Star-Friendship Don Cupitt 11

2 The Visionary Aspects of Iris Murdoch's Philosophy Heather Widdows 17

Part 2 Political and Cultural Contexts

3 Iris Murdoch and the Two Cultures: Science, Philosophy and the Novel Patricia Waugh 33

4 Iris Murdoch, Ian McEwan and the Place of the Political in Contemporary Fiction Anne Rowe Sara Upstone 59

Part 3 The Derridean Context

5 Murdoch and Derrida: Holding Hands under the Table Tony Milligan 77

6 Murdoch, Derrida and The Black Prince Paul S. Fiddes 91

7 Minding the Gap: Mourning in the Work of Murdoch and Derrida Pamela Osborn 110

Part 4 Contexts of Power

8 Iris Murdoch and Theodor Reik: Sado-Masochism in The Black Prince Mark Luprecht 129

9 Iris Murdoch and Elias Canetti: Towards a Reassessment Elaine Morley 145

Part 5 Literary Contexts

10 The 'wondrous necessary man': Canetti, The Unicorn and The Changeling Avril Horner 163

11 A Post-Christian Concept of Martyrdom and the Murdochian Chorus: The One Alone and T.S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral Frances White 177

12 Language, Memory and Loss: Kristevan Psychoanalytical Perspectives on Intertextual Connections in the Work of Murdoch and Banville Wendy Vaizey 192

Part 6 Biographical Contexts

13 The Influence of Childhood Reading on the Fiction of Iris Murdoch Janfarie Skinner 209

14 Murdoch on Film: 'Re-seeing Reality' in Richard Eyre's Iris (2001) Alex Ramon 225

Select Bibliography 239

Index 242

Editorial Reviews

'A splendid collection, innovative and enlightening. The essays ably examine Iris Murdoch's work anew or afresh in a wide variety of contexts: biographical, cultural, theological, political, philosophical, psychological, scientific, deconstructionist, cinematic and intertextual. This book is a major contribution to Murdoch studies.' - Priscilla Martin, University of Oxford, UK

From the Publisher