Iris Murdoch & Anthony Powell

Iris Murdoch & Anthony Powell

18 June 2021By John PotterBlog

I discovered Iris Murdoch’s novels around the same time that I was becoming immersed in Powell. I had read a few in England, starting with The Bell, before my move to Japan in the mid-1980s. And so, I became a Murdochian as well as a Powellian.

‘Iris Murdoch Today’ Series

‘Iris Murdoch Today’ Series

24 May 2021By Miles LeesonBlog

The Research Centre at Chichester was delighted to announce the start of a new working relationship with Palgrave Macmillan; an open-ended project entitled ‘Iris Murdoch Today’ that will produce two books a year (monographs and edited collections) overseen by myself and the Deputy Director of the Centre, Frances White.

Visiting Charlbury Road

Visiting Charlbury Road

3 May 2021By Gillian DooleyBlog

Sorting through some material for my essay on Iris Murdoch’s links with Australia recently, I discovered the notes I took more than a decade ago when, towards the end of a long research trip to the UK, I drove to Oxford from Winchester to meet John and Audi Bayley.

Researching Iris Murdoch in a Time of Pandemic

Researching Iris Murdoch in a Time of Pandemic

26 April 2021By Maria PeacockBlog

Now libraries and archive collections are re-opening, and I am delighted that restrictions on travel have been lifted, so that I can make an appointment at the Iris Murdoch Special Collections at Kingston University, to continue my work on the archive material there.

Iris Murdoch in Chiswick

Iris Murdoch in Chiswick

4 March 2021By Jill ApperleyBlog

Iris Murdoch, who lived for much of her childhood in Chiswick, was one of the best and most influential writers of the twentieth century. Iris was the only child of doting parents who married after a rather whirlwind romance.

Quakerish Novelist – Iris Murdoch

Quakerish Novelist – Iris Murdoch

19 February 2021By Heather RobbinsBlog

In the years since I became a Quaker by convincement, no one has ever mentioned Iris Murdoch as a representative Quaker sensibility and thinker. In that same period of time I’ve also been convinced that the, shall we say, post-supernatural, post-fundamentalist condition is naturally Quaker, and is a reasonable contradiction of Sigmund Freud’s position that there’s no future for ‘illusions’ of the religious sort.

First Virtual Conference 15th July 2021

First Virtual Conference 15th July 2021

12 February 2021By Heather RobbinsBlog

Following a successful Centenary Conference at St Anne’s College, Oxford in 2019, and given the difficulties of meeting in person, the first online Iris Murdoch Conference will take place at the University of Chichester in 2021.

Metaphysics as a Guide to Football

Metaphysics as a Guide to Football

3 February 2021By Heather RobbinsBlog

I don’t know whether Murdoch is right about God, but I’m pretty sure that she’d have struggled to understand my reasons for getting up at 6 a.m. to watch soccer. Unlike the old lady in her story, I’m under no illusions. The empty stadiums and canned crowd noise of the pandemic might have brought it home more forcefully, but on some level I’ve always known the game is just a dog’s tooth. The interesting question is why that doesn’t stop it from glowing.

Writer Meets Painter: Iris Murdoch and Harry Weinberger

Writer Meets Painter: Iris Murdoch and Harry Weinberger

13 January 2021By Heather RobbinsBlog

Iris Murdoch met the painter Harry Weinberger (1924-2009) by chance in the mid-1970s and in him she instantly recognised a kindred spirit. For more than two decades, they maintained an intimate friendship and rigorous intellectual discourse, centred on sustained discussion of the practice, teaching and morality of art.