February 05, 2024

Iris Murdoch's The Sovereignty of Good

44 minutes

Bidisha, Peter Conradi and Lucy Bolton join Matthew Sweet to read the moral philosophy book published by Iris Murdoch in 1970. Murdoch, who died aged 79, 25 years ago on Feb 8th 1999, was a writer of novels and philosophy books which explored the nature of good/evil, the role of the unconscious and of sex and love. In 1978 she won the Booker prize for her story The Sea, The Sea and in 1987 she was made a Dame.

Lucy Bolton has written about Iris Murdoch, philosophy and cinema; novelist and critic Bidisha is a fan, Peter J Conradi, who is Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Kingston, was a friend of Iris Murdoch and author of books including Iris Murdoch: A Life, A Writer at War: Letters and Diaries of Iris Murdoch 1939-45, The Saint and Artist: A Study of the Fiction of Iris Murdoch, and his autobiography Family Business: A Memoir which talks of his friendship with her.

The Iris Murdoch Research Centre is at the University of Chichester.

You might also like another Free Thinking discussion on rewriting 20th-century British philosophy and women philosophers including Iris Murdoch, Mary Midgley,

Producer: Luke Mulhall

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By BBC Radio 4

4.2