'A fairly honourable defeat'

Iris Murdoch

Publisher: Penguin Books / 1972

Pages: 449

Dame Jean Iris Murdoch DBE was an Irish and British novelist and philosopher. She was best known for her novels about good and evil, sexual relationships, morality and the power of the unconscious.

She was born on 15 July 1919 in Phibsborough, near Dublin and died on 8 February 1999 in Oxfordshire UK.

She produced 26 novels in 40 years, the last written while she was suffering from Alzheimer's. She was the first Irish-born writer to win the Booker Prize.

Her 26 novels include the Booker prize-winning The Sea, The Sea (1978), the James Tait Black Memorial prize-winning The Black Prince (1973) and the Whitbread prize-winning The Sacred and Profane Love Machine (1974).

She also had a number of other novels on the long and shortlists for the Booker Prize over the years, including this book being reviewed today which was longlisted for The Lost Man Booker Prize. This was her 13th novel.

Julius, an American-Jewish biologist, who has deserted genocidal research, and Morgan, his former lover, a specialist in linguistics, who refers to Chomsky, arrive independently in London after their parting; Morgan to seek comfort from her nice, loving elder sister, Hilda, and her affectionate brother-in-law, Rupert.

Rupert is completing a work on moral philosophy, and talks more than most about love and goodness.

The couple subscribe to many good causes and they also take what they believe to be a very responsible attitude to private relationships.

They have also had bad luck with their undergraduate son, Peter, who (for some chapters) opts out.

Enter Julius, determined to give Rupert and Hilda's seemingly impregnable marriage a mild jolt. He sets the stage and distributes roles among his unwitting cast with unnerving brilliance and high comedy...

... Until the last act with its final inevitable (but not altogether disgraceful) defeat.

This is a dark comedy of errors, an exploration of love and its excesses, missteps and modest triumphs. It is a Machiavellian experiment how easily loving couples, caring friends and devoted siblings can betray their loyalties.

As puppet master, Julius artfully plays on the human tendency to embrace drama and intrigue and to prefer the distraction of confrontations to the difficult effort of communicating openly and honestly.