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Iris Murdoch, A Life: The Authorized Biography
A full and revealing biography of one of the century’s greatest English writers and an icon to a generation.
Dame Iris Murdoch has played a major role in English life and letter for nearly half a century. As A.S.Byatt notes, she is ‘absolutely central to our culture’. As a novelist, as a thinker, and as a private individual, her life has significance for our age. There is a recognisable Murdoch world, and the adjective ‘Murdochian’ has entered the language to describe situations where a small group of people interract intricately and strangely. Her story is as emotionally fascinating as that of Virginia Woolf, but far less well known; hers has been an adventurous, highly eventful life, a life of phenomenal emotional and intellectual pressures, and her books portray a real world which is if anything toned down as well as mythicised. For Iris’s formative years, astonishingly, movingly and intimately documented by Conradi’s meticulous research, were spent among the leading European and British intellectuals who fought and endured World War II, and her life like her books, was full of the most extraordinary passions and profound relationships with some of the most inspiring and influential thinkers, artists, writers and poets of that turbulent time and after.
Peter Conradi was very close to both Iris Murdoch and John Bayley, Iris’s husband, whose memoir of their life together has itself been the subject of an enormous amount of attention and acclaim. This will be an extraordinarily full biography, for there are vast resources in diaries and papers and friends’ recollections, and while it is a superlative biography it is also a superb history of a generation who have profoundly influenced our world today.
772 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2001
23 people are currently reading
443 people want to read
About the author
Peter J. Conradi
24 books5 followersSee also Sunday Times journalist Peter Conradi
Peter J. Conradi FRSL (born 8 May 1945) is a British author and academic, best known for his studies of writer and philosopher, Iris Murdoch, who was a close friend. He is a Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Kingston and has been Visiting Fellow at Magdalen College Oxford and Research Fellow at University College London.
Conradi was educated at Oundle School, before going on to study English Literature at the University of East Anglia (BA, 1967), the University of Sussex (MA, 1969) and University College London (PhD, 1983).
Conradi has taught at South Bank Polytechnic, University of Colorado, Boulder (Exchange Professor), University of East Anglia, Kingston University and the Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland (British Council Professor). In 1997 Conradi left Kingston University, where he is now Emeritus Professor, to write freelance; and in 2010 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Conradi has written a number of books, including studies of John Fowles, Fyodor Dostoevsky and Angus Wilson, but he is best known for his work on the life and work of Iris Murdoch. His authorised biography of Murdoch was widely chosen as a book of the year on its publication in 2001.
Peter Conradi lives in London and Radnorshire with his civil partner Jim O’Neill. He is a practising Buddhist. He is a Trustee of the Bleddfa Centre for the Creative Spirit and has been co-editor (2007-2018) of the Transactions of the Radnorshire Society.
Peter J. Conradi FRSL (born 8 May 1945) is a British author and academic, best known for his studies of writer and philosopher, Iris Murdoch, who was a close friend. He is a Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Kingston and has been Visiting Fellow at Magdalen College Oxford and Research Fellow at University College London.
Conradi was educated at Oundle School, before going on to study English Literature at the University of East Anglia (BA, 1967), the University of Sussex (MA, 1969) and University College London (PhD, 1983).
Conradi has taught at South Bank Polytechnic, University of Colorado, Boulder (Exchange Professor), University of East Anglia, Kingston University and the Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland (British Council Professor). In 1997 Conradi left Kingston University, where he is now Emeritus Professor, to write freelance; and in 2010 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Conradi has written a number of books, including studies of John Fowles, Fyodor Dostoevsky and Angus Wilson, but he is best known for his work on the life and work of Iris Murdoch. His authorised biography of Murdoch was widely chosen as a book of the year on its publication in 2001.
Peter Conradi lives in London and Radnorshire with his civil partner Jim O’Neill. He is a practising Buddhist. He is a Trustee of the Bleddfa Centre for the Creative Spirit and has been co-editor (2007-2018) of the Transactions of the Radnorshire Society.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
May 12, 2016
If you are a major Murdoch fan, do read this book, but be prepared to toss it against the wall at least once. If you are a general reader of biographies, skip it. The writer is eminently qualified, having access to virtually every document and everyone, and knew Iris. He has edited a collection of Murdoch's essays and is a noted critic. That last point hints at his weakness. He lacks appreciation for the craft of biography, but writes as a specialized scholar. British scholars stop at no miniscule point, so we have 60 pages of endnotes along with footnotes. (It is why I as an academic appreciate their intense and complete studies.) Consequently Conradi leaves an open invitation to bring us Iris, for apart from many wonderful excerpts of her letters and journals, she remains a confusing collage partially hidden under objects of little import.
The opening chapters, as other reviewers noted, a slog, so accept my invitation to graze through big chunks. Eventually you'll find hints of Iris, the best part starting with Oxford, and random bits from thereon. Conradi can present lives clearly--he does offer orderly, concise lives of her key lovers. They are the most readable and often illuminating sections of the book. Though I am a historian, I learned some repressed history about WWII. Yet the information belonged elsewhere, and imply the men as being more important than Murdoch.
Here's why it is difficult to grasp Iris. Conradi skips about chronologically, starts at a point, then backshifts when not always necessary, then cuts ahead. He'll give lines of people's observations, some contradictory, without any interpretation or analysis. This makes her effectiveness as an Oxford teacher hard to ken. He seems preoccupied with her sexual life, for it takes large chunks of the account. Yes, she enjoyed sex as a young woman, that without necessary emotional involvement. But it is treated out of proportion to her writing life and her philosophy. Worse, he never examines why she was attracted, enthralled the better word, with several sadistic men. Similarly, he turnabout to marry a gentle, self-effacing man needs explanation.
He slides through her final decades very quickly, which is odd given he knew her then. Rather, he tells us too much about the lives of others, such as once-enthraller Canetti, and suddenly on one page Iris is brain-shrunk. Perhaps he expects John Bayley's account to stand in, but as a biographer he had a duty here.
That said, here's what I appreciated learning: that she was a serious philosopher, and understanding such helps appreciate her fiction. That she was a bit odd in her habits and composure was interesting. That she seemed oblivious to her powerful effect upon others from an early age explains some of that odd duck behavior. Conradi deserves praise for placing her in context: her education at Badminton School (I don't make that up) and how the 30s shifted her into Marxism, studying Classics, then "Mods and Greats" in Oxford when women were still not welcome, her volunteering during the war, her challenging Oxford philosphy after the war. This material grounds her in place and time, very essential to modern readers.
I kept wondering if I was missing something in my general struggle with the constant shifts from clarity to confusion, mixed chronology, and too much backstory on minor individuals. Being a critic, he helps by connecting characters' personas to possible real life people, and also to her philosophy. Indeed, I'll keep the book as a reference, but look forward to a deft, straightforward presentation of her complicated personality and immense intellect. It won't be easy, but Conradi has laid the tracks.
The opening chapters, as other reviewers noted, a slog, so accept my invitation to graze through big chunks. Eventually you'll find hints of Iris, the best part starting with Oxford, and random bits from thereon. Conradi can present lives clearly--he does offer orderly, concise lives of her key lovers. They are the most readable and often illuminating sections of the book. Though I am a historian, I learned some repressed history about WWII. Yet the information belonged elsewhere, and imply the men as being more important than Murdoch.
Here's why it is difficult to grasp Iris. Conradi skips about chronologically, starts at a point, then backshifts when not always necessary, then cuts ahead. He'll give lines of people's observations, some contradictory, without any interpretation or analysis. This makes her effectiveness as an Oxford teacher hard to ken. He seems preoccupied with her sexual life, for it takes large chunks of the account. Yes, she enjoyed sex as a young woman, that without necessary emotional involvement. But it is treated out of proportion to her writing life and her philosophy. Worse, he never examines why she was attracted, enthralled the better word, with several sadistic men. Similarly, he turnabout to marry a gentle, self-effacing man needs explanation.
He slides through her final decades very quickly, which is odd given he knew her then. Rather, he tells us too much about the lives of others, such as once-enthraller Canetti, and suddenly on one page Iris is brain-shrunk. Perhaps he expects John Bayley's account to stand in, but as a biographer he had a duty here.
That said, here's what I appreciated learning: that she was a serious philosopher, and understanding such helps appreciate her fiction. That she was a bit odd in her habits and composure was interesting. That she seemed oblivious to her powerful effect upon others from an early age explains some of that odd duck behavior. Conradi deserves praise for placing her in context: her education at Badminton School (I don't make that up) and how the 30s shifted her into Marxism, studying Classics, then "Mods and Greats" in Oxford when women were still not welcome, her volunteering during the war, her challenging Oxford philosphy after the war. This material grounds her in place and time, very essential to modern readers.
I kept wondering if I was missing something in my general struggle with the constant shifts from clarity to confusion, mixed chronology, and too much backstory on minor individuals. Being a critic, he helps by connecting characters' personas to possible real life people, and also to her philosophy. Indeed, I'll keep the book as a reference, but look forward to a deft, straightforward presentation of her complicated personality and immense intellect. It won't be easy, but Conradi has laid the tracks.
January 19, 2008
I'm an Iris Murdoch nut,and this biography was completely engrossing. The author had a very respectful and clear understanding of her novels and her philosophy.
March 1, 2021
Peter J. Conradi has surely written a biography so comprehensive that it must be required reading for all fans of one of England’s most dominant and influential novelists in the latter half of the twentieth century. Iris Murdoch: A Life reflects that the subject gave the biographer permission to write this book, and then facilitated that task through unprecedented access to new and unpublished material, as well as through interviews.
Conradi’s cradle-to-grave coverage thus also includes the influence and context related to the creation of every one of Murdoch’s 26 novels. However, readers may be forgiven for some concern that Conradi doesn’t reach Iris’s writing life and her first novel until 300 pages (halfway) into the book! He makes up for it in the remaining half with a meticulous job of connecting the dots of events and experience with literary work. It is easy to see that Murdoch’s writing life is inextricably bound up with her daily life. Indeed, she said that’s how she wanted people to view her life, as a tight integration of all parts.
It also becomes clear that before her first novel, Murdoch was almost consciously preparing herself to be a writer. She was an enthusiastic pupil at Badminton School, and equally energetic and conscientious as an undergraduate at Somerville College at Oxford University. Murdoch was deeply interested in people, the more diverse the better. People in conversation with her would note that she gave her undivided attention to her interlocutors. She was an intense listener, remaining quiet, understanding, and then asking probing questions. In addition, she took people at face value in a nonjudgmental way.
Murdoch was also an altruistic and compassionate woman. She showed kindness to all living things, from the insect world to her wide network of friends. One of her most fulfilling jobs came in the post-war period when she spent several years with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. It was heartbreaking but satisfying work helping to bring stability to displaced people and refugees and to engineer a new start in life for many.
Murdoch herself would confess that she was not beautiful. She had plain looks, generally untidy hair, and a carelessness about her wardrobe. Her figure tended to the heavyset build, and her gait when walking was not completely ladylike. Nevertheless, it must have been clear to her that she had the ability to attract both men and women. Right up until her marriage in 1956, she was rarely without a lover, one-night stands mixed with longer-term relationships.
Conradi does a convincing job of illustrating how every part of Murdoch’s life went into her work. She was a towering intellectual, multilingual, well-read in both ancient and contemporary philosophy of the 1940s, and an academic high-performer in school and at Oxford University. She even met and conversed with philosophers of her day, such as Sartre and Wittgenstein. She was also religious enough to “worry about her soul,” yet did not believe in God. Interestingly, she was a member of the Communist Party for many years, before trading that membership for the Labor Party.
Iris Murdoch was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease some two years before her death in 1999. Though I have not read all of her work, Conradi’s magnificent biography is strong motivation to begin filling in all the gaps.
Conradi’s cradle-to-grave coverage thus also includes the influence and context related to the creation of every one of Murdoch’s 26 novels. However, readers may be forgiven for some concern that Conradi doesn’t reach Iris’s writing life and her first novel until 300 pages (halfway) into the book! He makes up for it in the remaining half with a meticulous job of connecting the dots of events and experience with literary work. It is easy to see that Murdoch’s writing life is inextricably bound up with her daily life. Indeed, she said that’s how she wanted people to view her life, as a tight integration of all parts.
It also becomes clear that before her first novel, Murdoch was almost consciously preparing herself to be a writer. She was an enthusiastic pupil at Badminton School, and equally energetic and conscientious as an undergraduate at Somerville College at Oxford University. Murdoch was deeply interested in people, the more diverse the better. People in conversation with her would note that she gave her undivided attention to her interlocutors. She was an intense listener, remaining quiet, understanding, and then asking probing questions. In addition, she took people at face value in a nonjudgmental way.
Murdoch was also an altruistic and compassionate woman. She showed kindness to all living things, from the insect world to her wide network of friends. One of her most fulfilling jobs came in the post-war period when she spent several years with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. It was heartbreaking but satisfying work helping to bring stability to displaced people and refugees and to engineer a new start in life for many.
Murdoch herself would confess that she was not beautiful. She had plain looks, generally untidy hair, and a carelessness about her wardrobe. Her figure tended to the heavyset build, and her gait when walking was not completely ladylike. Nevertheless, it must have been clear to her that she had the ability to attract both men and women. Right up until her marriage in 1956, she was rarely without a lover, one-night stands mixed with longer-term relationships.
Conradi does a convincing job of illustrating how every part of Murdoch’s life went into her work. She was a towering intellectual, multilingual, well-read in both ancient and contemporary philosophy of the 1940s, and an academic high-performer in school and at Oxford University. She even met and conversed with philosophers of her day, such as Sartre and Wittgenstein. She was also religious enough to “worry about her soul,” yet did not believe in God. Interestingly, she was a member of the Communist Party for many years, before trading that membership for the Labor Party.
Iris Murdoch was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease some two years before her death in 1999. Though I have not read all of her work, Conradi’s magnificent biography is strong motivation to begin filling in all the gaps.
March 11, 2023
Tedious read. I love literary biographies, but Conradi didn't approach Murdoch's writing until much later in the book. Extensive details on others' lives, words, experiences felt tangential. Honestly, though I couldn't get past page 200, I didn't have a good idea who Murdoch was.
August 5, 2021
Conradi’s Murdoch bio is a disappointment and a tedious read. He writes well enough, and despite being a Murdoch and Bayley friend the book is not hagiography, but the proportion is all wrong, really very seriously askew. In 600 pages of text (followed by 100+ of notes & index) Murdoch has finally published her first novel, Under the Net, on p. 384, and then she’s first seriously ill on p. 588 & dead by 592. Jumpy and choppy text - Conradi never misses an opportunity to be reminded of Elias Canetti & to jump back to musings about the 1950s - and way more about names in & around Oxford than I wanted to know, frequently losing track of Iris herself in the shuffle.
July 10, 2020
You might think I'm a pushover, but I mostly only finish reading books I'm inclined to like in the first place. So, I loved this book. I finished it in the wee hours this morning. Couldn't sleep. Awake all night. Could it have anything to do with having had a Cortisone shot in my hip yesterday am? Maybe.
I'm committed to reading more of Conradi. He was a friend of Iris. He sticks up for her. Loves her. But I think he gives her an honest look.
Iris is a cult figure I think. Her personality is meshed with her work. Some art is infused with personality, some not. Sinatra, si. Pollock, si. Can I think of some no's? That would be more difficult for me; don't want to commit myself.
You get a peek of her sex life in this book. That seems kind of necessary with Iris. Not so I guess for all artists...
I'm committed to reading more of Conradi. He was a friend of Iris. He sticks up for her. Loves her. But I think he gives her an honest look.
Iris is a cult figure I think. Her personality is meshed with her work. Some art is infused with personality, some not. Sinatra, si. Pollock, si. Can I think of some no's? That would be more difficult for me; don't want to commit myself.
You get a peek of her sex life in this book. That seems kind of necessary with Iris. Not so I guess for all artists...
August 22, 2013
With this one might call oneself Murdoctrinated. Fascinating book, but the writing is a little too much like talking to a distracted narrator. Often the chapters dart around in time and idea and don't clearly tie the relations together. There is a LOT of information in this book. I do feel however like I understand something of her philosophy, personality, and intentions in writing as she did. In that sense I feel like a better Murdoch reader. As with her writing I find myself dwelling on various people, looking them up separately, trying to understand more about the context, history, and etc.
November 7, 2008
Enjoying this bio tremendously so far. Not just a bio but gives a fair critique of her work for those who don't know her a good introduction. Not quite finished but extracts of her writing & journals are really inspiring me. I also had no clue she was bisexual.
Truly inspirational.
Truly inspirational.
May 8, 2012
First half is hard to get through. Second half is why you worked your way through the first half.
Sooooooo worth it!
Sooooooo worth it!
April 26, 2019
Monumental and brilliant, this life concentrates on the early years to the mid 1950s.It provides clues to what her novels were about and who provided the models for her characters and will be vital for anybody who wants to study her work.However I struggled with the chapters which looked at her philosophical life and ideas.In fact the whole book assumes knowledge of her work,which I didn’t have,but it certainly encourages me to try her novels.
June 3, 2022
I gave it my best shot, but I really couldn’t finish this. I’ve never read a biography which felt so much like an English Lit essay, and gave so little in the way of insight into the real human being at the centre of the book. Strangely, it didn’t seem to spend much time on Iris’ writing process either. Sure it’s a very worthy tome for scholars, but it wasn’t for me, I’m afraid.
December 31, 2023
When you read a biography, you are doing so with the intention to understand a person better. I think reading this probably makes you understand Iris Murdoch less, and I’m not sure why the author didn’t do a better job- perhaps too much deference, or it was just outside his skill set.
June 8, 2021
Great biography
September 8, 2023
What a horrible biography to much backstory and mundane information. I wanted to better understand the writer and this did not help.
March 6, 2024
A superb biography. A bit dense and detailed, sometimes overly so, but still, a strong portrait of the woman, the thinker, the novelist.
April 5, 2007
An insightful biography. Oh, and I sold this cover image :)
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May 4, 2013Biog M9744c 2001
December 4, 2016
Brilliant ... what more need be said?
10.16
10.16
February 11, 2021
Renders her presence as flesh and blood; something I often feel I have missed (though I think it is my failure, somehow) in her fictional characters.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews