The Bell (Masterplots: Revised Category Edition, British Fiction Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Iris Murdoch
- First Published: 1958
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Philosophical comedy
- Time of Work: Mid-twentieth century
- Setting: Imber Court, England
- Principal Characters: Michael Meade, James Tayper Pace, Catherine Fawley, Nick Fawley, Paul Greenfield, Dora Greenfield, Toby Gashe, Mother Clare
- Genres: Long fiction, Philosophical realism
- Subjects: 1950’s, Gay men, Homosexuality or homosexuals, Mental illness, England or English people, Legends, Eccentrics or eccentricities, Convents or nunneries, Nuns, Religious life, Bells
- Locales: England
Iris Murdoch has the habit of seizing upon her material with a grasp so vigorous and complete that she is capable of an amazing variety of effects—joy, farce, grotesquerie, wit, violence, tenderness—always with shrewd insight into the oddities and frailties of the human animal. The result is that her novels exhibit a kind of thoroughgoingness rare in contemporary fiction, where most writers are satisfied to present only a fragmented view of experience or to achieve a picture of life in one of its familiar but flattish aspects such as social criticism, character painting,...
[The entire page is 1412 words long]

