The Iris Trilogy: Memoirs of Iris Murdoch

The Iris Trilogy #1-3

by John Bayley

This volume brings together John Bayley's books dedicated to the memory of his wife, Iris Murdoch. Bayley's account of his long and loving marriage to the great novelist Iris takes us from their love affair's comical beginnings in Oxford in the early 50s (Bayley courted Iris on account of her unchallenging plain looks and their first date consisted of a revolting dinner followed by a disastrous dance when Iris sprained her ankle) through its slow and painful closure when Iris developed Alzheimer's 40 years later, to a searching analysis of the condition of bereavement and how he built a life for himself after Iris's death.

Genres: Nonfiction

572 pages, Hardcover

First published September 4, 2003

About the author

Professor John Bayley CBE, FBA, FRSL was a British literary critic and writer.

Bayley was born in Lahore, British India, and educated at Eton, where he studied under G. W. Lyttelton, who also taught Aldous Huxley, J.B.S. Haldane, George Orwell and Cyril Connolly. After leaving Eton, he went on to take a degree at New College, Oxford. From 1974 to 1992, Bayley was Warton Professor of English at Oxford. He is also a novelist and writes literary criticism for several newspapers. He edited Henry James' The Wings of the Dove and a two-volume selection of James' short stories.

From 1956 until her death in 1999, he was married to the writer Dame Iris Murdoch. When she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, he wrote the book Iris: A Memoir of Iris Murdoch, which was made into the 2001 film Iris by Richard Eyre. In this film, Bayley was portrayed in his early years by Hugh Bonneville, and in his later years by Jim Broadbent, who won an Oscar for the performance. After Murdoch's death he married Audi Villers, a family friend. He was awarded the CBE in 1999.

Reviews

[Yanina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Come, we must be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate.

An epochal book.
It seemed that it also took me a whole epoch to finish it, I began it two times, and finished it in 19 days. After it had been read, I needed to go through it again with a pencil looking for the moments to keep in memory.
This trilogy is to be remembered about: it tells about the devastation and tragedy when the memory is no more there; the struggle to recognise the person before you and recalling the times before everything has changed, the ability to love and be compassionate beyond all imaginable borders.
This book is about an epoch long gone, about Oxford dons, vast spaces in Dorchester, Vikings, poetry, ancient battles, laws of conservations or energy, trouble and pleasure, swimming, hope, solitude, intelligence, Thomas Hardy, volcanic landscapes of Lanzarote, pestering women and fleeing away.

What dust answer gets the soul
When hot for certainties in this our life
Rosamund Lehmann

[Claire Nightingale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this

[eLwYcKe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr.Bayley’s sense of humour carries him through many trials and tribulations as the husband of the incandescently talented Iris Murdoch.
I’m a devotee of her writing and was fascinated to read his account of their bohemian, yet cosy life together.
It wasn’t exactly ripped asunder by her encroaching Alzheimer’s disease, diagnosed when she was in her mid-70s, as he was admirably determined for their life together to continue as long as possible.
This is the basis for the first book, “Iris: A Memoir” and also Mr.Bayley’s account of their happy, contented life together.
The 2nd, “Iris and the Friends “, is about her final year and how he copes by drifting off into reminiscences of his youth, wartime experiences and early love for literature.
“Widower’s House” is the most mordantly humorous, with some unexpectedly farcical situations occurring when all Mr.Bayley longs to do is to drift off alone and be with his memories of his beloved wife. Fate has other ideas, as it so often, inconveniently does. He has my sympathy.

[Colin Kitchen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was drawn to this book mainly by the film “ iris” but also because I have read the “bell.” The book is a bit hard going written by an academic it’s dull. The literary references are interesting and there are some big words which I had to look up.
They had a strange relationship I guess typical of 2 professionals engrossed in work with little time for each other. The dementia is depressing and not brought to a conclusion in book . I will have to come back to finish the rest as found it not the right time for me to continue .

[Daphne Deguara]

I only read the first book (memoir for Iris). Very sincere and touching memoir written by her husband John Bayley before Iris died physically - but by then she was so riddled by dementia that she was completely lost to him. Bayley seems like the doting husband, and he probably was, but he does not keep back from accusing himself of losing it sometimes.