Iris Murdoch

Bran Nicol traces the preoccupation in Murdoch's fiction with the way the past makes its mark upon us, haunting us and eluding our attempts to grasp it. This argument was given an extra resonance by the death of Murdoch after Alzheimer's disease in 1999, when the first edition was published. This new edition includes detailed readings of novels not discussed in the original ("The Bell, The Sacred and Profane Love Machine," and "The Philosopher's Pupil") and includes a new preface, an updated bibliography and three new chapters covering Murdoch's most important and popular novels, considering in more depth her relationship with the dominant literary and intellectual currents of her time.