Murdoch, (Jean) Iris (1919–1999)

English novelist, born in Dublin. Her novels combine philosophical speculation with often outrageous situations and tangled human relationships. They include The Sandcastle (1957), The Bell (1958), The Sea, The Sea (1978; Booker Prize), Nuns and Soldiers (1980), The Message to the Planet (1989), The Green Knight (1993), and Jackson's Dilemma (1995).

She was educated at Badminton School and Somerville College, Oxford. During World War II she worked at the Treasury, then at refugee camps in Europe. From 1948 until 1963 she was a fellow and tutor in philosophy at St Anne's College, Oxford. Her first work was a philosophical study, Sartre, Romantic Rationalist (1953), and she published further works of philosophy, including Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals (1992) and Existentialists and Mystics (1997) which is a collection of essays on philosophy and literature. DBE 1987.

Her first novel was Under The Net (1954), which, with The Flight from the Enchanter (1956), made her reputation as a writer of high seriousness of purpose and great wit. Later novels include A Severed Head (1961) (filmed 1983), The Unicorn (1963), Bruno's Dream (1969), A Fairly Honourable Defeat (1970), The Black Prince (1973) (Tait Black Memorial Prize), A World Child (1975), Henry and Cato (1976), The Philosopher's Pupil (1983), and The Book and the Brotherhood (1987).