Iris Murdoch

Author Charlotte Mendelson: ‘There’s nothing more fascinating than other people’s marriages, particularly when they start to go wrong.’

The author on her ‘darkest, queerest novel yet’, what makes Iris Murdoch special and the words she would abolish

Sat Aug 03 2024 - 05:00

Values are not ‘just opinions’: How our moral teaching has gone wrong

Unthinkable: A remarkable quartet of philosophers foresaw the risk of rejecting ‘moral facts’

Thu Dec 30 2021 - 05:00

Short of staycation ideas? Try a pilgrimage to Irish philosophy sites

Unthinkable: Ireland has a rich philosophical heritage – some more plaques would be nice

Thu Jul 22 2021 - 05:00

Should we cancel Immanuel Kant and Friedrich Nietzsche?

Unthinkable: Famous philosophers are being reappraised in light of their prejudices

Thu Apr 22 2021 - 05:00

The forgotten women in philosophy: time to set the record straight

Unthinkable: The Philosopher Queens originated from ‘a disheartening trip to the local bookshop’

Thu Sept 17 2020 - 05:00

Ireland isn’t really a Utopia. It’s just our neighbour is a gurning claptrapocracy

Seeking flattery from abroad is one of Ireland’s most crippling, shameful addictions

Thu Jul 30 2020 - 12:39

What are words worth: do poets and philosophers speak the same language?

Unthinkable: Research project and poetry prize explore overlap between perceived rival disciplines

Thu Jul 23 2020 - 22:29

‘I am deeply interested in Ireland’s complex past’

‘I have a ritual of making tea, lighting a candle and then I am gone into my fictional world’

Fri May 15 2020 - 05:50

Don’t judge a book by its coverage

Donald Clarke: BBC’s ‘novels that shaped our world’ list is terrible in a very particular way

Sat Nov 09 2019 - 05:00

Iris Murdoch centenary marked with stamp and plaque

‘Even at the end of her life when she had Alzheimer’s, she remembered she was from Ireland’

Thu Jul 11 2019 - 14:56

Why the world needs Iris Murdoch’s philosophy of ‘unselfing’

Centenary of author’s birth in Dublin is being used as an occasion to reclaim her moral vision

Thu May 16 2019 - 05:00

The splendid and tragic history of Irish country houses

Maynooth conference takes in the Gibtons, Laval Nugent and Elizabeth Bowen

Sat May 11 2019 - 00:00

Can a novel also be a work of philosophy?

Unthinkable: Literature allows us capture ‘weirdness’ of life, says Matthew McKeever

Thu May 09 2019 - 05:00

Why Iris Murdoch Matters review: A compact scholarly work

Gary Browning tries to explain the mechanics of Murdoch’s ability to bewitch readers

Sat Feb 02 2019 - 05:00

Josephine Hart, writer and ‘heroine’ who inspired Herstory

Hart harnessed early tragedy to become a publisher, writer, poetry promoter and television producer

Tue Nov 20 2018 - 11:00

Anna Burns: From relative unknown to Man Booker prize winner

‘Milkman’ author has been praised for her ‘dazzingly inventive’ writing approach

Tue Oct 16 2018 - 22:30

In praise of Autumn: Ireland is not a summery nation

As everything turns a deathly brown, it feels unpatriotic to favour any other season

Fri Sept 14 2018 - 05:00

From Notre Dame to Haji Ali Dargah Mosque, a parade of holy places in fiction

Since Chaucer there has been a rich tradition of writers inspired by religious buildings

Thu Aug 16 2018 - 05:52

100 books by women you have to read

Iris Murdoch, Edna O’Brien, Marian Keyes and Eimear McBride all appear on the list

Mon Jun 04 2018 - 16:14

New stamp to commemorate Rescue 116 crew

Organ donation, Liffey Swim and first sitting of the Dáil will also be marked

Tue Mar 20 2018 - 20:21

The world’s greatest – but probably least-known – Irish library

Film star Grace Kelly's roots prompted her to collect Irish literature, including rare editions of Joyce, Beckett and Shaw

Thu Dec 14 2017 - 10:31

'Marriage was a licence for sex': Ireland and women in 100 quotes

The Women’s Podcast celebrates its 100th episode with 100 quotes by and about women in Ireland

Thu Mar 30 2017 - 10:10

A history of Ireland in 100 great quotes

From ‘Dress suitably, and buy a revolver’ and 'A terrible beauty' to 'We all partied'

Sat Mar 11 2017 - 05:08

10 great books by Irish women

In the final part of our series on influential books by women writers, we focus on Irish authors

Wed Mar 08 2017 - 05:30

I moved from Britain to Ireland, where a woman is a second-class citizen

The English didn’t break Irish women’s spirit. Ireland does that all by itself, writes Anthea McTeirnan, in our series on the relationship between Ireland and Britain

Thu Sept 15 2016 - 06:00

Living on Paper: Letters from Iris Murdoch 1934-1995 review: lady of letters

The Dublin-born author’s passionate, promiscuous nature is laid bare in this well-edited collection, as are her conflicted views on Ireland, ‘island of spells, provincial pigsty’

Mon Feb 01 2016 - 12:49

In praise of Iris Murdoch, by Ian d’Alton

Irish Women Writers: one of the great writers in English, her relationship as a southern Protestant exile with the land of her birth, as explored in both her fiction and personal life, was conflicted but fascinating

Wed Jun 03 2015 - 11:50