The 2025 Iris Murdoch Summer School will look at Iris Murdoch in the 1970s. We will be studying A Fairly Honourable Defeat, An Accidental Man, The Black Prince and The Sea, The Sea.
In this lecture Dr Rob Hardy (Henan Normal University, China) will discuss female agency, power and the gothic in Murdoch's The Unicorn, and will be followed by a Q&A. A treat for the festive season! The lecture is free for Society members, £5 for all others. Zoom link to be sent 24 hours before the lecture.
Professor Anne Rowe (University of Chichester) will explore the literary and theological links between the novelist and philosopher Iris Murdoch and the medieval mystic Julian of Norwich.
Much of our conception of the relationship between Iris Murdoch and John Bayley, happily married for over forty years, comes from Bayley's memoirs, and the Oscar-winning film adaptation of the first, Iris (2001). But what do we know of their life together outside of their public appearances and international travel?
