A Fairly Honourable Defeat (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Iris Murdoch
- First Published: 1970
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Philosophical
- Time of Work: The late 1960’s
- Setting: London, England
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism, Philosophical realism
- Subjects: Values, 1960’s, Power, personal or social, Gay men, Homosexuality or homosexuals, Love or romance, Middle classes, Adultery, Good and evil, Parables, London, Human behavior, Devils or demons, Comedy, Civil service
- Locales: London, England
Characters Discussed
Julius (Kahn) King, a Jewish American biochemist in his mid-forties. He has quit working on his biological warfare experiments and has gone to England to renew old acquaintances. Distinguished looking, with pale hair and violet- brown eyes, he is a cynical observer of the human condition and decides to exploit the weaknesses he sees in the relationships he encounters. His former lover, Morgan Browne, becomes his willing yet unwitting associate in the attempt to break up the homosexual relationship between Axel Nilsson and Simon Foster. King’s real goal is...
[The entire page is 1236 words long]
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