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The Sea, the Sea (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics)

by Iris Murdoch

The Sea, the Sea (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics) Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Charles Arrowby, leading light of England's theatrical set, retires from glittering London to an isolated home by the sea. He plans to write a memoir about his great love affair with Clement Makin, his mentor, both professionally and personally, and amuse himself with Lizzie, an actress he has strung along for many years. None of his plans work out, and his memoir evolves into a riveting chronicle of the strange events and unexpected visitors — some real, some spectral — that disrupt his world and shake his oversized ego to its very core.

Review:

"Soon after this reviewer had read The Sea, the Sea it was announced that the novel had won the most prestigious and richest prize for fiction in Britain. It was richly deserved. One has never read better descriptions of the sea in a multitude of moods, nor has it ever been used as a symbol for the embroiled thinking that we humans fall into. But the novel is contemplative, and its narrator's difficulties stem from his having cherished a boyhood love throughout his life, a love which was largely unreturned, a fact he chose to ignore. The writing is so strong that one races from word to word, while the rhythm of the book, rather like that of its namesake, moves in a ceasless ebb and flow. Miss Murdoch's novels have proved a strong training ground, for here she has used all her talent and pared away all her weaknesses." Reviewed by Andrew Witmer, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)

About the Author

Iris Murdoch was born in Dublin in 1919 of Anglo-Irish parents. She went to Badminton School, Bristol and read classics at Somerville College, Oxford. In 1948 she returned to Oxford where she became a fellow of St Anne’s college. One of this century’s finest and most influential novelists, and a distinguished philosopher, she was published by Chatto from her first novel, Under the Net in 1954 to her last, Jackson’s Dilemma in 1995. Awarded the CBE in 1976, Iris Murdoch was made a DBE in the 1987 New Year’s Honours List. She died in February 1999.

Product Details

ISBN:
9780141186160
Author:
Murdoch, Iris
Publisher:
Penguin Books
Introduction:
Kinzie, Mary
Author:
Kinzie, Mary
Location:
New York
Subject:
General
Subject:
Middle aged men
Subject:
London
Subject:
Actors
Subject:
Psychological fiction
Subject:
Classics
Subject:
General Fiction
Subject:
London (england)
Series:
Penguin Twentieth Century Classics
Series Volume:
106-117
Publication Date:
March 2001
Binding:
Paperback
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
528
Dimensions:
7.80x5.10x.80 in. .81 lbs.

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