Murdoch, << MUR dok, >> Iris (1919-1999), was a British novelist known for her philosophical novels. Her characters face difficult moral choices in their search for love and freedom and are often involved in complex networks of love affairs. Some critics have complained that Murdoch’s characters are mere puppets used to act out philosophical ideas. But others have praised her fiction for its wit and psychological insight.
Some of Murdoch’s novels expose the dangers of abstract systems of behavior that can cut people off from spontaneous, loving relationships. Under the Net (1954) and A Fairly Honourable Defeat (1970) are examples. The Bell (1958) examines the relationships among the members of a religious commune. In A Severed Head (1961), Murdoch portrays three couples whose unfaithful sexual conduct illustrates their shallow, self-centered philosophies. Murdoch’s novel The Sea, the Sea (1978) won the 1978 Booker Prize, the United Kingdom’s highest literary award. Her other novels include The Black Prince (1973), The Good Apprentice (1986), and The Book and the Brotherhood (1988).
Jean Iris Murdoch was born on July 15, 1919, in Dublin. She lectured in philosophy from 1948 to 1963 at Oxford University in England. Queen Elizabeth II made her a Dame Commander in the Order of the British Empire in 1987, and she became known as Dame Iris Murdoch. She died on Feb. 8, 1999.
