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Iris: a Memoir of Iris Murdoch / Dangerous Ground / The Queen of Whale Cay
Anthology of three biographies: "Iris - a memoir of Iris Murdoch" by John Bayley, "Dangerous Ground" by Roger Cook, "The Queen of Whale Cay" by Kate Summerscale.
Three abridged biographies: Iris describes the English novelist's last years, disabled by Alzheimer's; Dangerous ground tells of the adventures of Roger Cook, investigative journalist; The queen of Whale Cay is the story of eccentric heiress "Joe" Carstairs, who bought an island in the Bahamas and retired to it to lead a life of motorboat racing and entertaining actresses, duchesses and priests.
Three abridged biographies: Iris describes the English novelist's last years, disabled by Alzheimer's; Dangerous ground tells of the adventures of Roger Cook, investigative journalist; The queen of Whale Cay is the story of eccentric heiress "Joe" Carstairs, who bought an island in the Bahamas and retired to it to lead a life of motorboat racing and entertaining actresses, duchesses and priests.
Audio Cassette
Published January 1, 2002
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About the author
John Bayley
110 books23 followersProfessor 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.
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.
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October 21, 2021
what a wonderful tribute to a much love wife who happened to be an astonishing novellist too- his interweaving of their earlier lives togetherm their meeting and what went before even, with the gradual loss of Iris through dementia is so beautiful, it brought me to tears and I had to read some of it out loud to my beloved husband too. AS someone who is highly likely to go down the dementia route myself unless all my efforts to thwart it are succcesssful, I was comforted to understandthat iris is still safe with her husband for as long as is possible. When you havea great love the idea ofnot being together is the single most horrendous thing imaginable. This is a beautiful memoir
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