Iris Murdoch: A Re-Assessment

Front Matter....Pages i-xix
Introduction: ‘A Large Hall of Reflection’....Pages 1-11
Front Matter....Pages 13-13
Reconsidering Iris Murdoch’s Moral Philosophy and Theology....Pages 15-22
‘All the World Must Be “Religious”’: Iris Murdoch’s Ontological Arguments....Pages 23-34
Iris Murdoch’s Deconstructive Theology....Pages 35-44
Front Matter....Pages 45-45
Murdoch on the Impossibility of Moral Scepticism....Pages 47-59
The Ethics of Self-Concern....Pages 60-71
Attention, Self and The Sovereignty of Good....Pages 72-84
Front Matter....Pages 85-85
The Ascetic Impulse in Iris Murdoch’s Thought....Pages 87-99
The Curse of The Bell: The Ethics and Aesthetics of Narrative....Pages 100-111
Front Matter....Pages 113-113
Saint Iris? Murdoch’s Place in the Modern Canon....Pages 115-123
Houses of Fiction: Iris Murdoch and Henry James....Pages 124-135
A Literary Foremother: Iris Murdoch and Carol Shields....Pages 136-147
‘Policemen in a Search Team’: Iris Murdoch’s The Black Prince and Ian McEwan’s Atonement....Pages 148-160
Front Matter....Pages 161-161
Plato, Foucault and Beyond: Ethics, Beauty and Bisexuality in The Good Apprentice....Pages 163-174
Reassessing Iris Murdoch in the Light of Feminist Philosophy: Michèle Le Doeuff and the Philosophical Imaginary....Pages 175-186
Front Matter....Pages 187-187
Oedipus, Peter Pan and Negative Capability: On Writing Iris Murdoch’s Life....Pages 189-203
Alzheimer’s Amyloid Analogy: Disease Depicted through A Word Child....Pages 204-213
Back Matter....Pages 214-217