Iris Murdoch

15 July 1919 - 08 February 1999

IM , active from the second world war till almost the end of the twentieth century, was best known as a philosophical novelist with a wild sense of comedy. Her twenty-six novels foreground philosophic issues similar to those discussed in her well-regarded academic publications. She contributed to many periodicals, and wrote plays for stage and radio, an opera libretto, and poetry.

BirthName: Jean Iris Murdoch
IM did not use the name Jean.
Married: Bayley
IM never published under her married name, but she used it for official documents like her passport.

Milestones

15 July 1919

IM was born at 59 Blessington Street, Dublin, seven years after her parents' marriage; it was a difficult birth.

Conradi, Peter J. Iris Murdoch. A Life. HarperCollins, 2002.

14, 21

15 June 1961

IM published her novel A Severed Head, a story about the trials of love and the rearranging of relationships.

The title derives from the head of the Gorgon, a female monster. The sight of her turned people to stone, which kept her invulnerable until Perseus severed her head while looking not at her but at her reflection.

Fletcher, John, 1937 -, and Cheryl Bove. Iris Murdoch: A Descriptive Primary and Annotated Secondary Bibliography. Garland Publishing, 1994.

104

Halio, Jay L., editor. Dictionary of Literary Biography 14. Gale Research, 1982–1983.

14: 554

June 1963

A Severed Head, a play adapted by IM and J. B. Priestley from her novel of the same name, had its first performance, at the Theatre Royal , Bristol.

Conradi, Peter J. Iris Murdoch. A Life. HarperCollins, 2002.

461

May 1970

Dick Clement 's film of IM 's A Severed Head, with screenplay by Frederick Raphael , was released; Murdoch thought it Terrible.

qtd. in

Conradi, Peter J. Iris Murdoch. A Life. HarperCollins, 2002.

533

5 October 1995

IM 's final novel, Jackson's Dilemma, appeared.

Blackwell’s Online Bookshop. http://Bookshop.Blackwell.co.uk.

Frum, Linda. “True Love and Rather Ghastly: Alzheimer’s, Iris Murdoch, and John Bayley”. National Post, 28 Nov. 1998, pp. B1 - B2.

8 February 1999

IM died in an Oxford nursing home.

Conradi, Peter J. “A Literary Witness to Good and Evil”. Guardian Weekly, Guardian Publications, 21 Feb. 1999, p. 24.

Bemrose, John. “Ever Extraordinary”. MacLean’s, 22 Feb. 1999, p. 71.

Biography

Birth and Family

15 July 1919

IM was born at 59 Blessington Street, Dublin, seven years after her parents' marriage; it was a difficult birth.

Conradi, Peter J. Iris Murdoch. A Life. HarperCollins, 2002.

14, 21