IRIS MURDOCH

WOMEN WRITERS – IRIS MURDOCH
“We live in a fantasy, a world of illusion. The great task in life is to find reality.“
“Writing is like getting maried. One should never commit oneself until one is amazed at one´s luck.“
BIOGRAPHY
born in 1919 in Dublin
died in 1999 in Oxford
teacher of philosophy in Oxford

IRIS MURDOCH – GENRES, TOPICS, NOVELS
GENRES
26 thought-provoking novels
Numerous plays
Book of poetry: A Year of the Birds, 1978
Numerous philosophical essays:
Sartre: Romantic Rationalist
The Fire and the Sun: Why Plato Banished the Artists

IRIS MURDOCH – GENRES, TOPICS, NOVELS
TOPICS
Comic, pathetic, difficult or embarassing life situations
Modern love stories
Modern variations of friendship, fame, wealth
Emotional and intellectual paralysis of modern man

NOVELS BY IRIS MURDOCH
Under the Net; 1954
The Bell; 1958
The Nice and The Good; 1968
The Black Prince; 1973
The Sea, The Sea; 1978
The Jacob´s Dilemma; 1995

“The Black Prince” (1973)
The Black Prince is widely considered the best of Murdoch's novels. It won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in its year of publication. It was, like almost all of her novels, a resounding popular success.
Part metaphysical enquiry into the nature of art and truth, part romantic liaison, part psychological thriller.

CHARACTER LIST
Arnold Baffin - The very successful popular writer whom Bradley is accused of killing at the end of the novel.
Rachel Baffin - The wife of Arnold Baffin.
Julian - the twenty-year old daughter of Arnold and Rachel Baffin, with whom Bradley falls in love.
Priscilla Saxe - The sister of Bradley Pearson.
Bradley Pearson - the main character of the novel and also the one who writes the majority of it. In the beginning of the book, Bradley is a cold, occasionally cruel man.
Francis Marloe – his primary role in the novel is comic.

Roger Saxe - Priscilla’s husband and Bradley Pearson’s brother-in-law.
Marigold - Roger Saxe’s mistress who is pregnant with his child.
P. Loxias - The editor of the novel.
Hartbourne - A friend of Bradley’s from work.
Oscar Belling - Julian’s ex-boyfriend.
Christian Evansdale - Bradley Pearson’s ex-wife.

THEMES
2.)Eros’s Facilitation of Expression
1.)Art as a Vehicle for Truth
3.)The Randomness of Life

MOTIFS
-Marriage :the Black Prince begins and ends with a domestic quarrel between a married couple.
-Hamlet :Hamlet is major motif in the novel. Hamlet’s characters, text, and themes recur several times.
-Feet and Boots :attention to Julian’s feet is a motif that chronicles the sexual awakening of Bradley.

SYMBOLS
The kite symbolizes the glimpse of the eternal that he is soon to get, but has not yet received.
Kites
Priscilla’s jewels
They represent her sole legacy, but it is a sad legacy, as jewels are cold, meaningless items whose primary significance is their monetary value.
Der Rosenkavalier
The opera has a special symbolic role because it contains sexual partners of grossly different ages, similar to the one in The Black Prince.