About this item
These two major novels - by one of the most influential British writers of the twentieth century - are ferociously dark comedies that combine playfulness with profundity.. A Severed Head (1961) is one of Iris Murdochs most entertaining works, tracing the turbulent emotional journey of Martin Lynch-Gibbon, a smug, prosperous London wine merchant and unfaithful husband, whose life is turned inside out when his wife leaves him for her psychoanalyst. The story takes bedroom farce to a new level of sophistication, with scenes that are both wickedly funny and emblematic of the way momentous moral issues play out in everyday life. . The Booker Prize-winning The Sea, the Sea (1978) is set on the edge of Englands North Sea, where egotistical Charles Arrowby, a big name in Londons glittering theatrical world, has retreated into seclusion to write his memoirs. Arrowbys plans begin to unravel when he encounters his long-lost first love and finds himself increasingly besieged by his own fantasies, delusions, and obsessions. Both novels are tragicomic masterpieces that brilliantly dramatize how much our lives are governed by the lies we tell ourselves and by the all-consuming need for love, meaning, and redemption.. Introduction by Sarah Churchwell
About the Author
Iris Murdoch (1919-1999) was one of the most influential British writers of the twentieth century. She was awarded the 1978 Booker Prize for The Sea, The Sea, won the Royal Society Literary Award in 1987, and was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1987 by Queen Elizabeth. Her final years were clouded by a long struggle with Alzheimer's before her passing in 1999.
