Around forty members turned up, braving the heavy rain, for the first of our afternoon meetings on August 2nd to listen to Richard’s talk, which was enlivened with readings from Iris’s works by member Marjorie James.
Richard told his audience about Iris’s life and work as a teacher of philosophy and as one of the foremost novelists of the 20th century.
Iris was born in Dublin in 1919 but her family soon moved to West London where she spent her early life. She won a scholarship to Badminton School and became Head Girl, then went on to Somerville College, Oxford, from where she graduated with 1st class honours.
She had several affairs with prominent men before meeting her future husband, academic John Bayley. They married in 1956.
Her first novel, ‘Under the Net’, published in 1954 was a popular success, followed by ‘The Flight from the Enchanter ‘and ‘The Sandcastle’. ‘The Bell’, which brings together many of her themes, came out in 1958.
Marjorie read passages from her early books – ‘The Flight from the Enchanter’ and ‘The Sea, the Sea’, as well as a description of Blessington Street in Dublin from ‘The Red and the Green’. She also read two verses from the poem, ‘The Agamemnon Class, 1939’, mourning the loss of her lover Frank Thompson, who died in 1944.
Additional insight into Iris Murdoch was given my Dr Miles Leeson, senior lecturer in English Literature at Chichester University, who is in charge of the new Iris Murdoch Study Centre at the University.
Also present was a former philosophy student of Iris Murdoch, Maureen Gruffydd Jones, who had some amusing first hand anecdotes, throwing light on Iris’s talent as a teacher who did not attach undue importance to following the curriculum!
Thanks to Richard, Marjorie, Miles and Maureen for a most interesting afternoon!