Introduction
Themes
The Sea, the Sea
Reviews
One of the 20th century's greatest writers and finest minds, Iris Murdoch (sadly now dead) is poised on the brink of fame explosion with the release of the film "Iris", based loosely around the biographies "Iris" and "Iris and the Friends", written by husband John Bayley. Though already a legend in literary circles, there's nothing like the medium of cinema (especially with such luminaries as Judi Dench and Kate Winslett involved) to raise the profile to a wider audience.
But it's the books I'm interested in here, and as individual reviews can scarcely do justice (without heavy repetition), then hopefully a more in-depth discussion of themes and archetypes can provide a little more in the way of flesh on the bones of the reviews.
The books are, individually, not easy to summarise, but there are many recurring threads throughout the entire corpus which, through familiarity, provide extra dimensions of pleasure beyond the separate stories.
In no particular order, I list recurring themes that we have come across (no doubt there are many others we haven't spotted yet!): good and evil, religion, homosexuality (esp. male), power, non-human consciousness (other animals), Jewishness, redemption, spirituality, food, drink, drugs, love, gender-confusion (usually via names), travel, art, London, the sea, swimming.....
These themes are always interwoven into a clever, often gripping story where the characters, though annoying and compelling by turns, never seem quite real - they seem like disparate facets of some hidden archetypal beings, certainly not the kind of people one encounters on a daily basis.
Having found out a little of how Murdoch lived, these themes and character-types have obviously been drawn from experience but deliberately jumbled so that no real person could say "That's me!" or "That's what happened to so-and-so." This is, of course, a hallmark of a good writer - not too autobiographical!
(A dissertation by Janga)
A few thoughts on one of my favourite novels - Iris Murdoch's "The Sea, the Sea". Inspired by my hearing a truly appalling review on a Radio four program called "A Good Read".
"Who is one's first love?" asks Charles Arrowby the novel's narrator and although he does not ask this question until the last page it is an important issue which bestrides the whole book. Like many of Iris Murdoch's novels, love, death and spirituality are major themes. Death, for Charles Arrowby literally "rears it's ugly head" in the shape of a menacing sea-serpent which rises terrifyingly out of the calm sea beside which Charles has retired to lead a life of secluded contemplation. Whether we believe that this 'Monster' is a real creature or a creation of his imagination it is certain that Charles sees it as something horrible of which he was "excessively frightened". We come to understand Charles's excessive fear of death through his writings - his "philosophical journal". For Charles is a character of whom, I feel, Ms Murdoch must have been particularly fond, in the way, perhaps, of an over-indulgent parent. Charles has been a "demi-god" of the theatre both as actor and director and enjoys the description of himself as a "tartar".
Being a total egotist renders him a terrible judge of character and somewhat lacking in compassion towards those around him. He could be a completely unpleasant person, but somehow his many weaknesses and mistakes only serve to make him lovable. One of these weaknesses is wrapped up within his death fear - his refusal to accept that he is aging - all his descriptions of himself talk of his smooth complexion, his non-greying hair, his slim body, whereas he is only too happy to detail the signs of age in his contemporaries.
When Charles meets his childhood sweetheart Hartley whom he has not seen since she left him when they were still both very young the narrative takes a new and intense turn. Hartley (or Mary, her real name as opposed to the schoolroom name always used by Charles) is married and living in the village by the sea. As opposed to what Charles would have us believe of himself, she has aged in the normal way; in fact when he first caught sight of her he did not really recognise her, seeing her as just an old woman who happened to remind him of Hartley. The obsessive and desperate state of mind into which Charles falls when he realises who this "old woman" actually is has its roots not so much in his love for Hartley, but more in his love for his youth. Charles the egotist cannot understand Hartley's marriage or that she could wish to stay in what seems to him to be an abusive relationship. Quite simply Hartley has grown up and cannot join Charles in his fervent wish to regain their youth.
Does Charles really regard Hartley's adopted son Titus as the son he never had or does he more importantly represent the much desired youth and vigour? It is very important to Charles that he does not appear old to Titus - a fatal flaw which prevents him from warning Titus of the dangerous tides near the cliffs where they swim and the consequent difficulty in getting out of the sea.
In the midst of this inner turmoil Charles takes a trip to London and visits The Wallace Collection - a gallery he had loved to explore with his father as a boy. Art was a great love of Iris Murdochs' and many of her novels contain paintings which are important to the characters. She was also a lover of Proust as many references veiled and otherwise throughout her work testify and here in a powerful yet dreamlike passage she cleverly combines her two themes as Charles wanders through the gallery's rooms. Just as in "Swann's Way" the narrator takes a pleasure in noticing a resemblance in his love Odette, to a figure in one of the Sistine frescoes, so does Charles suddenly see in all the great works of art around him the features of many of "my women" meaning the many women with whom he had been involved during his theatrical career. Had Charles, like Swann, "retained enough of the artistic temperament to be able to find a genuine satisfaction in watching these individual characteristics take on a more general significance when he saw them, uprooted and disembodied, in the resemblance between an historic portrait and a modern original whom it was not intended to represent"? or was this just another example of his own quite extreme egotism?.....
It seemed to Charles that Hartley was not represented by any of the artists - not until he stood before Titian's painting of Perseus and Andromeda - here he was shocked by the memory of his terrifying "sea monster" brought back to life in Titian's sea dragon. This painting then, becomes a representation of the unfolding story as seen through Charles' eyes - Hartley is of course, Andromeda and Perseus flying so gallantly down to rescue her from the sea dragon of death is Charles himself.....
It is at this point in the novel that Charles' cousin James enters. James it could be argued, is the most important character in the novel, certainly Charles seems to be unaware just how important James is to him. A Buddhist and enlightened to such a point that he is able to harness the power of his mind to achieve many things, things which he passes off disparagingly as merely "tricks", James has business of his own with his cousin - he needs to say a final goodbye to Charles whom he has always loved not only since their childhood together but probably in other lives. For it would seem that Charles and James have long been "soul mates" and for James to achieve "enlightenment" this "attachment" had to be broken.
When James, using his Buddhist "tricks" saves Charles's life in a strange and dramatic sea rescue he also unwittingly caused the death of Titus - "demons used for good can hang around and make mischief afterwards". James felt that his "imperfect meddling" in the spiritual world to save his cousin had been paid for in the death of the innocent young man.
The last meeting between Charles and James takes place on a foggy night at "Shruff End" Charles' sea house. James appears unexpectedly out of the darkness, his mission, unknown to an unsuspecting Charles, is to tie up loose ends with his cousin and to take his final leave. In the ensuing conversation between the two James reveals more than he ever has before about himself and his Buddhist beliefs. Even Charles is able to appreciate that the lines of communication between the two are much more open than usual though true to his generally blinkered form he concludes that James is planning to revisit Tibet when he speaks of "going away" and "preparing for a journey". Importantly though, they part on good terms.
The dissolving of Charles' obsession with Hartley begins with his suddenly regained memory of exactly how James had saved his life. This shocking "bolt from the blue" finally opened his eyes to just how important his cousin was in his life. Just as he is filled with a joyful excitement and a deep wish to see James again as soon as possible on this new footing, a letter arrives from James' Indian doctor announcing his death. This was no ordinary death however, for according to the Doctor James had "died in happiness achieving all", having chosen the moment of his death.
After James' death the novel continues as a postscript. Charles is no longer "in love" with Hartley' indeed he looks back wonderingly upon his strange mania of the past summer. It is now Autumn and he has sold "Shruff End" living now in James' old flat, James having left all his possessions to Charles. This section consists of small fragments which represent Charles' shifting thoughts at this time which move from believing that James truly did die the enlightened death of a Buddhist to believing him to be actually still alive and upon some secret mission in Tibet! We see him gradually trivialise Hartley and his feelings for her and slowly but inexorably step back into the world which he had earlier shunned.
Thus the novel ends on a very optimistic note with Charles very firmly anchored in the physical world, a sphere in which he was always comfortable, contemplating new relationships, new projects. James' sphere was always the spiritual one and it seems that he understood his cousin and his many weaknesses while loving him none the less for them. We could then, say that "The Sea, The Sea" is a novel about the meeting and love between the body and the soul. As Charles says, "Who is one's first love? Who indeed.".....
An Accidental Man
An
Unofficial Rose
The
Green Knight
The
Message to the Planet
The
Nice and the Good
The
Red and the Green
The Sandcastle