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Iris Murdoch: The Retrospective Fiction
by Bran Nicol
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (2004-08-24)
ISBN: 1403916659
EAN: 9781403916655
Dewy Decimal #: 823.914
Paperback: 256 pages
Edition: 2nd Revised edition
SKU: B434-1383
Condition: New
Comments: In stock - Immediate despatch from an efficient and professional leading British bookselling firm.
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Customer Reviews
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Good analysis of the 1st person novels
Rating  (4)
Date: 2001-02-26
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
The book offers an excellent analysis and categorisation of Iris Murdoch's first-person novels. In the manner of Freudian psychoanalysis, Nicol views these novels as replayings of past events which may or may not lead the hitherto flawed protagonist to a better understanding of himself, and thus to a heightened moral awareness. To ascertain the degree of development in the protagonist, Nicol uses Murdoch's moral philosophy as his measuring stick. I believe that Nicol's arguments are convincing, and that he succeeds in integrating Murdoch's moral principles into his analyses. The problem with the book is that it presupposes a reader with at least a rudimentary knowledge of Murdoch's moral ideas and philosophy. Furthermore, the book is only useful for an understanding of Murdoch's first person novels, which means that some of her greatest novels such as "The Bell" and "The Sandcastle" go unheeded. It is these minor short-comings which makes me award the novel 4 stars rather than 5 stars. I must, however, emphasise that the book does succeed in fulfilling its objectives.
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