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The writing of Iris Murdoch has long been of interest to both literature enthusiasts and students of philosophy. The years Murdoch spent studying philosophy at Oxford and Cambridge left an indelible imprint on her work. The essays in this book address both Murdoch's philosophy and writing in the context of Continental philosophy and postmodern fiction. Many of the twelve essays resist the prevailing critical orthodoxies, introducing instead new theories with which to approach one of Britain's most revered authors. ... Read more

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A timeless work that will bring healing to anyone dealing with the loss of a loved one. John Bayley began writing Iris and Her Friends, a companion to the New York Times bestseller Elegy for Iris, late at night while his wife, the beloved novelist Iris Murdoch, succumbed to Alzheimer's Disease. As Iris was losing her memory, Bayley was flooded with vivid recollections of his own. In lyrical reverie, Bayley recreates the unforgettable scenes of his youth, from his birth to a civil servant in colonial India to his long romance with Iris and its heartbreaking end. This is the transcendent work of a brilliant man, whose examination of the tragedies and joys of his own life will give readers great healing insight. John Bayley's Iris and Her Friends is nothing less than a classic of true love and sorrow. Film rights sold to Columbia Pictures.Amazon.com Review
Novelist Iris Murdoch died in 1999 after a three-year battle with Alzheimer's disease. Her husband, writer John Bayley, who wrote movingly of the impact of her illness in Elegy for Iris, tells in this book of the final year of his wife's life, when she was visited more by her own imaginary "friends" than by the exigencies of real life. In Iris and Her Friends, Bayley recalls his own increasingly precarious hold on reality and subsequent breakdown, Murdoch's final happy weeks in a home for the terminally ill, and finally her quiet death. Although closely linked to Elegy, Iris and Her Friends focuses more on Bayley's experience of Murdoch's illness: the memories he discovered just as his wife lost her own--of his childhood, his army years and first loves, and of their long marriage. One of Bayley's "friends" is a subject he holds dear: "The old Eng. Lit. again. I taught it for nearly fifty years and feel detached from it now." Nonetheless, literature emerges here as the one remaining constant in his life. Scarcely two pages go by without a reference, almost involuntary, to Hardy, Coleridge, Austen, Shakespeare, Dostoyevsky, Thurber, James, Lawrence, Woolf--or Murdoch. Sometimes Murdoch appears to respond to the shared literary in-jokes, but more often the pair are like "two animals pushing together, nudging and grooming each other, grunting together as they bask in a mutual doze." This is an incredibly intimate glimpse into a personal life, but as Bayley tellingly observes: "There is a surreal sense in which Alzheimer's has turned Iris herself into art. She is my Iris no longer, but a person in the public domain." --Alan Stewart, Amazon.co.uk ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Finding friends on the inside of the mind
Much as John does not like the word "caregiver" it is the word most used to refer to those who are in this situation with their loved ones. Most especially, it seems life is toughest on the caregivers. Our own situation was with my wife's father who had (has) vascular dementia and lost control of his body but not his mind - for the most part. This book details five years of the opposite situation for John and Iris. For us the nature of his physical deterioration left us no choice and after fifteen years with us he moved into a home where they could care for him properly. The situation was then totally different in the sense in which John was alone and alone with Iris - who as he says was in so many ways no longer herself. How does one cope with five years of care giving without going out of their minds? By going into their mind instead. And sharing the secret with us.

A disappointing sequel
This is the second John Bayley book which centers on his wife's decline from Alzheimer's disease, and the way they managed together through this. The first was a powerful and moving memoir.
The sequel unfortunately is a much more scattered, and uncentered work. In fact the greatest part of it does not have to do with the situation of Iris, but rather with Bayley's own story before he knew Iris. Here we are let down simply because Bayley is not a very interesting or appealing character in himself. He seems to be in some way a very tepid and shy character. The book thus only comes alive in the parts which have to do with Iris. But this relationship was probed in a deeper way in the earlier volume. In fact in the earlier volume Bayley seemed to 'have it all together' in a way he does not here.

Iris' Shadow
John Bayley CBE should be known more as the widower of the late Dame IRis Murdoch. Of course, he was there in the best and worst of times and never complained or criticized. Where do you find a husband like John? John and Iris's relationship could be one of the most unforgettable romances of the last century or ever. John truly loved Iris, there is doubt about that. This book is about him also as well. During Iris' later stages of Alzheimers which robbed him of the woman who wrote complicated, strategic long novels into a childlike stage where she was no longer than exceptional figure of womanhood in real life. She became a woman inflicted with Alzheimers who was unable to write anymore and didn't know her own surroundings. Imagine the smartest woman or man in the world become a lost child. No doubt, John did everything he could for Iris. They only had each other. John wrote that Iris was generous beyond belief and they lived simply in Oxford. They loved to swim together and listen to the Archers, the British Radio Soap, and talk about it afterwards. They never even owned a television set until Iris became ill. John shows us how to cope in a situation by relying on happier memories of his life when things were different or better. I admire John and Iris' relationship, there were no arguments, doubts, and worries about the other's fidelity in the marriage. In my opinion, John and Iris were made for each other and that's where it ended. John writes that sex didn't matter to Iris much before the illness and it didn't matter afterwards so why all this focus on her sexuality. Maybe she experimented with women and she was with men who she loved and lost before she met John. I think once she and John got together, their union was a remarkable one where Iris and JOhn both encouraged each other's talents as writers, literary critics, and philosophers. While Iris was the star, it was John who sat lovingly beside her without complaints. Oh if all marriages were that good.

using memories not to escape, but to cope
This is a gentle tale filled with scholarly allusions, about the lastmonths and days Iris Murdoch spent in the care of her devoted husband, JohnBayley.Since he was essentially alone, with rather formidable demandsplaced upon him by her Alzheimer's ailment, he coped by retreating intomemories.In this situation, his memories were strikingly vivid, andreminded me of thememory-influenced dreams I had during my pregnancies,when my waking hours were racked by nausea.The memories were not so mucha comfort to him, as a reminder of the fullness, the"worth-whileness" of life.I recognize this, having experiencedit, as a natural way of getting through a difficult time.

Iris is astrong presence in this memoir, but it tells us more about this thoughtful,intellectual, sensitive, and good man.The deep love the two shared isapparent, yet it is not put on display in the arrogant manner, the "notwo people ever loved as we did, no one ever had the adventures we did orknew the famous people we did" attitude of some other authors. Thebook is sweet,gentle, and not nearly as sad as you might expect.

Iris and Her Friends
Memories are the essence of the soul. They define our relationships, explain our actions, and shape our perspectives. They are a part of us, so inextricably bound up with our very selves that it is difficult tocontemplate ever losing them. And when we do, it is a sentence morepunishing than death.

But that is just the sentence that Iris Murdoch,noted British author of The Green Knight and Jackson's Dilemma andProfessor of Philosophy at Oxford, received when she was diagnosed withAlzheimer's Disease in 1994. Her husband, John Bayley, has since writtentwo memoirs about his beloved Iris. The newest, Iris and Her Friends, isBayley's sequel to Elegy for Iris, which was published in December, 1998.

Elegy for Iris is exactly what its title implies: a book that mourns thepremature death of Iris's mind, but it is also a tribute to her andBayley's enduring love. It is a memoir that spans the history of theirmarriage, from the days of their courtship to the time of Bayley'swriting.

Iris is in the later stages of Alzheimer's by the time of Irisand Her Friends: A Memoir of Memory and Desire. Here, Bayley uses his ownmemories to escape the maddening routine of caring for and worrying abouthis wife. Most of the memories he recounts do not include Iris at all, butare either recollections from Bayley's childhood or remembrances of oldflames he knew before he met Iris. The memories, though they seem to havelittle to do with Iris, in fact flow from Bayley's desire to share themwith his wife.

Bayley refers to the small respites from the worst ofAlzheimer's as Iris's "friends." Her moments of clarity and thesimple pleasures of holding and hugging become more cherished as Iris'condition worsens. The disintegration of Iris' memory is especiallypoignant; her incoherence and petulance stand in stark contrast to thegifted and articulate individual she once was. Bayley is brutally honestabout his frustration with and sometimes irrational hatred for his wife,but his veracity does nothing to lessen the awesome devotion that is soevident in his innate concern for and awareness of her.

The mundane,domestic events of Iris and John's everyday life are interspersed with hisvivid recollections. His escapes into memory inject levity into thesometimes desolate and seemingly hopeless atmosphere of the household. Atheart, he is a fun-loving, adventuresome, imaginative individual; storiesof his escapades as a child and his days in the army all display the samedelightful sense of humor.

It is this flexibility and imagination thatenable Bayley to survive the tough times of Iris' illness. His optimisticoutlook on life ("Bad situations survive on jokes," he writes)and blunt, concise opinions on suicide, euthanasia, and sex make the entirebook seem like a one-sided conversation between close friends. Bayleyallows the reader to become intimately acquainted with the inner workingsof his mind¡Van openness that is at odds with his childhood practice ofkeeping secret those things he held dear. Bayley's cathartic storytellingtherefore seems to be an attempt to fill a void created by Iris' illness,to find a friend in whom he can confide.

The change in the relationshipbetween Bayley and Iris, from marital to almost parental, is accompanied bya change in the way Bayley sees the world. He often escapes to the comfortsof memory and fantasy, seemingly more so as Iris' condition worsens and shebecomes almost uncommunicative. Bayley reminisces about his childhood,bringing to life the members of his family: his melancholy father, hisunaffectionate mother, and his mature, pragmatic older brothers. From thecomfort of his home and in the company of Iris, he remembers his summers ata small beachside town called Littlestone-on-the-Sea. He recreates hischildhood adventures but scrutinizes them through the lens of adulthood.During these retellings, he re-examines some of the complex events of hispastoral summers: a friendship between a German man and a Jewish family anda husband's desertion of his high society wife.

As Iris' illnessadvances, so does our progression through Bayley's life. He enlists in theBritish forces during World War II and revels in the open, affectionate wayhis fellow soldiers express their feelings. During this time and hissubsequent college years, Bayley developed two significant love interestsprior to Iris. It seems a bit strange that Bayley would devote such a largeamount of page space to his former girlfriends in a memoir about his wife.But instead of detracting from Bayley's devotion to Iris, his accounts ofthese lukewarm relationships serve to reinforce the intensity and depth ofhis love for her.

Although Bayley and Murdoch are never physicallyseparated during the course of the narrative, there is a wide gulf createdby Iris' illness; immersed in his fantasies, Bayley seems very much alone.It is not until the close of the memoir that the reader gets a morecomplete sense of what Bayley and Iris are like as a couple, throughBayley's recollections of some of the later days of their marriage. Hedescribes dinners with esteemed authors like Aldous Huxley and a vacationthat included a ghostly visitation from Henry James.

Although Bayleyfinds solace and escape in his countless memories, he cannot imagine lifewithout Iris, and he attributes his windfall of memories to Iris' veryexistence. His frustrations and impatience are only a tiny part of the hugefield of emotions that are born from his love, a love that has been testedby and has endured tragedy.

Overall, Iris and Her Friends is a touchingand exceptionally well-written memoir that is grounded and fanciful,optimistic and realistic. Bayley, a famous literary critic in his ownright, adds depth and meaning to many of his stories by using multiplereferences to great works of literature. Unfortunately, this can beslightly confusing for readers unfamiliar with the books hementions.

While Elegy is a lament for what has been, Iris and Her Friendsis a celebration of the importance of life. By the end of the memoir,having been exposed to Bayley's stream of consciousness for nearly threehundred pages, the reader is so attuned to Bayley's heartache, so moved byhis devotion, that it is impossible to remain detached and unaffected byIris' death. We mourn her as if she had been one of our friends. ... Read more

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Iris Murdoch was one of the best-known philosophers and novelists of the post-war period. Her leanings towards feminism can be detected in some of her most famous novels, but her philosophy suggests an ambivalence about sexual equality. In this book, Sabina Lovibond explores the tangled and controversial issue of Murdoch’s stance towards gender and feminism.

Lovibond analyses Murdoch's most famous novels and her key philosophical works, exploring themes such as philosophy and literature; the Platonic struggle in much of her philosophy; theories of education and articulacy; and the clash between religious and secular ethics. She argues that many of these issues need to be set against the greater context of a ‘social imaginary’ in which Murdoch’s work takes place.

The first book to properly explore Murdoch and gender, Iris Murdoch, Gender and Philosophy is essential reading for anyone interested in Murdoch's writing, and debates in feminist philosophy and gender studies.

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Iris Murdoch and the Art of Imagining offers a new appreciation of Iris Murdoch's philosophy, emphasizing the importance of images and the imagination for her thought.

This book is first and foremost a study of Iris Murdoch's philosophical work. It examines how literature and imagination enabled Murdoch to form a philosophical response to the decline of religion. It thus argues that Murdoch is an important philosopher, because she has not confined herself to philosophy. The book also reconsiders various contemporary assumptions about what philosophy is and does. Through Le Doeuff's notion of the philosophical imaginary, it examines the different ways in which images and imagination are part of philosophy. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

The work of two lifetimes
Absolutely brilliant work by Peter J. Conradi to be served with his Iris Murdoch: A Life. Iris Murdoch: A Life ... Read more

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The Grimm brothers' fairy tales have long fascinated readers with their violence and frank sexuality. Three of Britain's most important novelists, Iris Murdoch, Margaret Drabble, and A. S. Byatt, have shared this fascination. Their fiction explores the darker themes of fairy tales-bestiality, cannibalism, and incest-and finds within them reasons to be optimistic about our fractured modern world. ... Read more

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Clean, tight book. These modern Platonic dialogues portray a fanatical young Plato and a wise old Socrates discussing the problems of the twentieth century. 131pp. ... Read more

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A very thought provoking attack on Platonic philosophy
Iris Murdoch is both a philosopher and novelist. Acastos is the name of a fictional character who together with his friends has two dialogues in two plays with the great Greek philosopher Socrates, who died in 399 BCE. Murdoch uses her plays both to explore two subjects but also to mock Socrates' pupil, the philosopher Plato, and his philosophy.
The first play Art and Eros is about art. What constitutes art? Does it copy nature or present something new? Does it teach truth? What is good and what is bad art? Is art related to the mind or to feelings? What does art teach? Does good art make better citizens? Is all art bad and even dangerous and should be banned, as Plato claims, because art is just an illusion and an illusion is not the truth, and art makes people satisfied and even delighted with illusions when they should be seeking the truth even though it is difficult to deal with the truth?Does Murdoch's Socrates utterly destroy Plato's philosophy in this play by saying that Plato is overly idealistic and that good art can teach people us much about themselves and the rest of the world? These are some of the many questions that are in this play.
Murdoch's second play Above the Gods is, as its subtitle states, A Dialogue about Religion.Is religion outdated, unscientific, full of superstition, a belief in and a reliance on magic? Is it at an outdated attempt to explain the world that is now primitive science? Does it stop thinking because it insists that people rely on traditions and faith? Is it useful for uneducated people because it helps control them? Is there a difference between morality and religion? Can morality exist without religion? Is Plato correct that a person should seek the find "truth," which is "above (passive reliance on) the gods"? Or, is Murdoch's Socrates correct when he criticizes Plato for being too idealistic and seeking complicated solutions when he should be using common sense, for the common people cannot understand and accept Plato's teaching?
... Read more

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Iris Murdoch's moral philosophy, though highly influential in 20th century moral theory, is somewhat unsystematic and inaccessible. In this work Widdows outlines the moral vision of Iris Murdoch in its entirety and draws out the implications of her thought for the contemporary ethical debate. ... Read more