Synopses & Reviews
Iris Murdoch: A Reassessment is an eclectic mix of essays that reposition Murdoch's work in relation to current debates in philosophy, theology, literature, gender and sexuality, and authorship. The essays refine, develop or contest previous readings, and blur the distinction between liberal humanist and theoretical positions, suggesting negotiations between them. The book not only questions established critical and philosophical positions, but also Murdoch's own pronouncements about her work. It suggests fresh influences and interpretations, and celebrates Murdoch's interdisciplinary modernity.
Synopsis
This volume is an eclectic mix of essays that reposition Murdoch's work in relation to current debates in philosophy, theology, literature, gender and sexuality, and authorship.
About the Author
ANNE ROWE is Senior Lecturer in English and Director of The Centre for Iris Murdoch Studies at Kingston University, UK. She is European Editor of the Iris Murdoch Society News Letter and author of The Visual Arts and the Novels of Iris Murdoch.
Table of Contents
Preface--P.Conradi * Introduction--A.Rowe * Murdoch and Contemporary Moral Philosophy--M.Antonaccio * THE SAINT AND THE ARTIST REVISITED * The Ascetic Impulse in Iris Murdoch's Thought - or The Saint and the Artist Revisited--M.Antonaccio * The Curse of The Bell: Ethics and Aesthetics of Narrative--B.Nicol * THEOLOGY * 'All the World Must be Religious': Iris Murdoch's Ontological Arguments--S.Mulhall * Iris Murdoch's Deconstructive Theology--S.Ramanathan * MORAL PHILOSOPHY * Murdoch on the Impossibility of Moral Skepticism--E.Brugmans * Virtue, Ethics, Self-Regard and The Sovereignty of Good--C.Mole * The Ethics of Self-Concern--S.Vice * LITERATURE * Murdoch and the Modern Literary Canon--N.Turner * Houses of Fiction: Iris Murdoch and Henry James--P.Martin * Accepting the 'Other': Iris Murdoch and Carol Shields--A.Ramon * 'Policemen in Search of a Team;' Iris Murdoch's The Black Prince and Ian McEwan's Atonement--A.Rowe * GENDER AND SEXUALITY * Plato, Foucault and Beyond: Ethics Beauty and Bisexuality in The Good Apprentice--T.Grimshaw * Michele Le Doeuff and the Philosophical Imaginary--M.Altorf * NEGATIVE CAPABILITY? * Iris Murdoch, Freud and Negative Capability--P.Conradi * Alzheimer's Amyloid Analogy: Disease Depicted Through A Word Child-- * R.Isaacson * Index