Iris Murdoch, A Writer at War : Letters and Diaries, 1939-1945

304 Pages·2011·1.53 MB·English

by  Peter J. Conradi

IRIS
MURDOCH,
A WRITER
AT WAR
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IRIS
MURDOCH,
A WRITER
AT WAR
The Letters and Diaries of
Iris Murdoch: 1939–1945
EDITED BY
PETER J. CONRADI
1
1
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Copyright © 2009 by Peter J. Conradi
U.K. edition published by Short Books
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Murdoch, Iris. [Writer at war] Iris Murdoch, writer at war : the letters and diaries of
Iris Murdoch: 1939–1945 / edited and introduced by Peter J. Conradi.
p. cm.
Previous ed. published: London : Short, 2010, under title: Writer at war.
ISBN 978-0-19-975603-2 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Murdoch, Iris—Correspondence. 2. Murdoch, Iris—Diaries. 3. Women novelists,
English—20th century—Correspondence. 4. Women novelists, English—20th century—Diaries.
5. World War, 1939–1945—Social aspects—Great Britain. I. Conradi, Peter J., 1945–
II. Murdoch, Iris. Writer at war. III. Title.
PR6063.U7Z48 2011
823'.914—dc22
[B]
2010036903
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
For Aurea and Rebecca, with appreciation
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contEntS
GEnEral introduction & caSt-liStS p9

I countdown to a war
introduction p19
the Magpie Players – 1939 p31

II
writinG to FranK tHoMPSon
introduction p81
Frank – 1940-44 p 93

III writinG to david HicKS
introduction p165
david – 1938-46 p175
Postscript p301
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GEnEral introduction
& caSt-liStS
Dame IrIs murDoch, world-renowned novelist and philosopher
was born in Dublin on 15 July 1919 and died in Oxford on 8
February 1999. Two years later, this death was re-enacted by
Dame Judi Dench playing old, demented Iris in the film Iris while
a young, promiscuous Iris was brought to life by Kate Winslet.
Directed by Sir Richard Eyre, this film was shot on a small bud-
get in a few weeks, and presented a moving love story. Part of
the interest, as in Greek tragedy, was in watching the wasting of
brilliance and greatness, and the endurance of love. It also dealt
bravely and harrowingly with Dame Iris’s decline and death from
Alzheimers.
Made from two of John Bayley’s memoirs1 with good intent
and heart, the universality, rather than the particularity, of this
film was witty and poignant. None the less the film seemed to this
observer, who acted as consultant, problematic. It was as if a film
1 Iris: A Memoir – in USA Elegy for Iris (1998); and Iris and The Friends – in USA Iris and
Her Friends (1999). The terms of his contracts precluded either Prof Bayley or the IM
estate from any ‘cut’ or interest in this film and John Bayley indeed did not profit.