Letters and Poems from Iris Murdoch to William Wallace Robson
TitleLetters and Poems from Iris Murdoch to William Wallace Robson
ReferenceKUAS121
Date
c. 1940s / 1950s
Creator Iris Murdoch, 1919-1999, author
Production date 1940-01-01 - 1959-12-31
Scope and ContentNine letters and eleven poems from Iris Murdoch to William Wallace Robson, to whom she was briefly engaged in the 1940s.
Extent1 file
Archival historyPurchased with the assistance of the Friends of the National Libraries
Persons keyword Iris Murdoch, 1919-1999, author, Wallace Robson, 1923-1993, scholar and literary critic
SubjectCorrespondence, Love letters, Poetry
Admin. history/BiographyIris Murdoch was born in Dublin, Ireland on 15 Jul 1919. When she was very young Iris and her parents moved to London, where Iris attended the Froebel Institute in Roehampton and Badminton School in Bristol. She followed this with studies in classics, ancient history and philosophy at Oxford, and further study at Cambridge. During the Second World War Murdoch worked for HM Treasury in London and then joined the UNRRA, providing relief in formerly occupied countries in Europe. In 1948 she became a fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford, where she taught and researched philosophy.
Iris Murdoch wrote a number of tracts on philosophy, however it is for her novels that she is best known. She wrote 26 novels in total, her first being 'Under the Net' published in 1954. Other notable works include 'The Bell' and 'The Sea, the Sea', for which she won the Booker Prize in 1978. Her final novel, 'Jackson's Dilemma', was published in 1995.
Iris Murdoch had romantic relationships with a number of individuals. She met author and scholar John Bayley while at Oxford and they married in 1956.
Later in life Murdoch was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, the first effects of which she had attributed to writer's block. Iris Murdoch died in 1999.
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