The Bell | The Bell

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 Bell | The Bell

At a glance:

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