![]() ![]() ![]() Gary Browning's new book, which forms part of the "Why Philosophy Matters" series, is a compact scholarly work which goes some way to explain the mechanics of Murdoch's ability to bewitch readers – due, of course, to her dazzling literary style but also, as Browning confirms, to her moral philosophy, which is rooted in Plato and the European philosophers she came to admire while at Oxford and Cambridge, namely Sartre and Simone Weil. Besides their trademark intelligence and brilliant prose, there is some other quality that over time I began to sense was deeply rooted in her philosophy. Her books are not about voice nor are they overly concerned with form, and they are devoid of sentiment. ![]() For Murdoch does not write dramatic novels. I would often wonder what it was Murdoch was doing to me as a reader to both enchant and excite me so much. I followed this reading with her early novels – Under the Net, Flight of the Enchanter and later The Bell, and over the years have worked my way through many, though not all, of her 27 novels. ![]() I first read Iris Murdoch's writing in 1999, shortly after her death and the Penguin reprint of her Booker Prize-winning novel, The Sea, the Sea (with its wonderful introduction by John Burnside). ![]()
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