The Iris Murdoch Society podcast

In this episode Miles is joined by Justin Broackes (Brown, USA) and Matt Dougherty (CEU, Vienna) to discuss the influence of Martin Heidegger on Murdoch's philosophy, and Murdoch's forthcoming work on Heidegger which has been edited by Justin.

Justin Broackes is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Brown University. His research spans perception, metaphysics and the history of philosophy. He edited Iris Murdoch, Philosopher, which includes part of Murdoch’s previously unpublished Heidegger manuscript, and has worked extensively on her moral philosophy, particularly The Sovereignty of Good. He has recently completed editing Murdoch final philosophical work, which focuses on Heidegger.

Matthew Dougherty is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Central European University in Vienna. His research interests include epistemology, ethics and continental philosophy. His article “Murdoch on Heidegger” examines Murdoch’s changing engagement with Heidegger, exploring their disagreements about value and her defence of the Good against his conception of Being.

In this episode Miles discusses Murdoch's eighteenth novel, Henry and Cato, on the 50th anniversary of its publication.

Joining him are James Bowen (Oxford University) and Frances White (Chichester University).

James is currently completing his PhD thesis at Oxford which considers the processes and criteria by which mid-century authors fall in and out of critical and/or popular favour. Examining the reception histories of a range of authors, focusing primarily on C.P. Snow, Iris Murdoch, John Fowles and William Golding, he advances the contention that central to their rising and falling cultural prominence is their relationship to a conception of the ethical role of fiction.

https://www.english.ox.ac.uk/people/james-bowen

Frances is the Deputy Director of the Iris Murdoch Research Center here at Chichester, the author of Iris Murdoch and Remorse, editor of the Iris Murdoch Review and many other works including the forthcoming Iris Murdoch Handbook from Oxford University Press.

In this episode Miles is joined by Elizabeth Whittome to discuss the profound influence Shakespeare had on the fiction, poetry and philosophy of Iris Murdoch. The conversation ranges widely across Murdoch's life and work, with special attention paid to her novels of the 1970s, including The Black Prince and The Sea, The Sea.

Liz is currently writing Iris Murdoch and Shakespeare for the Iris Murdoch Today series with Palgrave Macmillan and was for many years the Chief and Principal Examiner of English for Cambridge Examinations. She has published several books on studying English at A Level with Cambridge University Press.

In this episode Miles is joined by Rebecca Moden (Birmingham Newman University, UK) to discuss the new exhibition at the University of Chichester, Iris Murdoch among the Artists. Drawing on newly-discovered artworks by Murdoch, those by her friends, students and collaborators, and new works by three contemporary British artists responding to her fiction and philosophy, the exhibition runs until the 10th December.

They discuss Murdoch's early artistic work, the biographical links to her paintings, her fiction and philosophical work. In short, how these new works fit in to the previously understood life of Iris Murdoch.

Rebecca lectures at Birmingham Newman and is a Research Associate at the Iris Murdoch Research Center at the University of Chichester where she gained her PhD. She is currently writing 'Iris Murdoch and Artists: Visions of the Real' for the Iris Murdoch Today series at Palgrave Macmillan.

In this Birthday Lecture Daniel Read (Kingston University, UK) discusses Murdoch's dramatic work and the connections to her life, fiction and philosophy. Although lesser-known, Read makes the case that her dramatic work needs to be reassessed in the light of new materials and biographical insights.