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Iris Murdoch

Iris Murdoch

Born 15 July 1919 · Died 8 February 1999

Jean Iris Murdoch (15 July 1919 – 8 February 1999) was an Irish and British novelist and philosopher, best known for her novels about good and evil, sexual relationships, morality, and the power of the unconscious. Her first published novel, Under the Net (1954), was selected in 1998 as one of Modern Library's 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.

Quotes

  • “Love is the extremely difficult realisation that something other than oneself is real. Love, and so art and morals, is the discovery of reality.”
    p. 51
  • “Happiness is a matter of one's most ordinary everyday mode of consciousness being busy and lively and unconcerned with self. To be damned is for one's ordinary everyday mode of consciousness to be unremitting agonising preoccupation with self.”
    Chapter 22
  • “People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us.”
    p. 170
  • “Writing is like getting married. One should never commit oneself until one is amazed at one's luck.”
    p. 10
  • “Perhaps when distant people on other planets pick up some wave-length of ours all they hear is a continuous scream.”
    p. 509

Quotes from Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0), chosen with AI.

Books by Iris Murdoch in order

Books by Iris Murdoch in the order they were published, from Sartre, Romantic Rationalist (1953) to A Writer at War (2010).

  1. 1Sartre, Romantic RationalistSartre, Romantic Rationalist1953
  2. 2Under the NetUnder the Net1954
  3. 3The Flight from the EnchanterThe Flight from the Enchanter1956
  4. 4The SandcastleThe Sandcastle1957
  5. 5The BellThe Bell1958
  6. 6A Severed HeadA Severed Head1961
  7. 7An Unofficial RoseAn Unofficial Rose1962
  8. 8The UnicornThe Unicorn1963
  9. 9The Italian GirlThe Italian Girl1964
  10. 10The Time of the AngelsThe Time of the Angels1966
  11. 11The Sovereignty of GoodThe Sovereignty of Good1967
  12. 12The Nice and the GoodThe Nice and the Good1968
  13. 13A Fairly Honourable DefeatA Fairly Honourable Defeat1970
  14. 14An Accidental ManAn Accidental Man1971
  15. 15The Black PrinceThe Black Prince1973
  16. 16The Sacred and Profane Love MachineThe Sacred and Profane Love Machine1974
  17. 17The Sea, the SeaThe Sea, the Sea1978
  18. 18Nuns and SoldiersNuns and Soldiers1980
  19. 19The Philosopher's PupilThe Philosopher's Pupil1983
  20. 20The Good ApprenticeThe Good Apprentice1985
  21. 21Metaphysics as a Guide to MoralsMetaphysics as a Guide to Morals1992
  22. 22Existentialists and MysticsExistentialists and Mystics1993
  23. 23Something SpecialSomething Special1999
  24. 24A Writer at WarA Writer at War2010

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