Tales from the Cloister: Godden, Murdoch and Spark

Tales from the Cloister: Godden, Murdoch and Spark

23 September 2026By Miles LeesonBlog

The retreat from the secular world to a religious order was certainly not unusual prior to the Second World War, particularly for artists, but for these three novelists the impact that Stanbrook in particular had on both their writing and personal lives, however fleeting that initial visit, was decisive. All three, in their different ways, experienced a connection with the transcendent that would remain with them, and which became important to the development of their later work.

Losing the Plot: Rereading, Forgetting, and Iris Murdoch

Losing the Plot: Rereading, Forgetting, and Iris Murdoch

21 November 2024By John PotterBlog

It’s a testament to Murdoch’s skill and power as a novelist that it isn’t just about the surprises. She creates delicious suspense and complex plots but is much more than a teller of entertaining stories. While plots are wonderful things, and Murdoch is a great plotter, my not remembering some of them over the decades has only led to a joyful rediscovering each time I open one of her books.

Poetry for the Soul: Murdoch’s Philosophy and Poetry as Vital Resources for the Modern World

Poetry for the Soul: Murdoch’s Philosophy and Poetry as Vital Resources for the Modern World

28 December 2023By Sita TurnerBlog

Murdoch’s philosophy of ‘unselfing’ was first coined in The Sovereignty of Good in the 1970s. While the term itself was original, Murdoch’s attempts to grapple with concepts related to the morality of the self followed a trajectory laid down by centuries of her predecessors. One cannot fail to see parallels with the likes of Keats, for example, whose theory of ‘Negative Capability’, an idea that argued for attention to beauty and the freedom of the imagination, was epitomised in his poem Ode to a Nightingale.