The Iris Murdoch Society podcast
Alle afleveringen
105 afleveringen, van nieuw naar oud
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Mary Midgley Podcast
21 juli 2023 · 1 uur 1 min
In this episode Miles is joined by Greg McElwain (College of Idaho, USA) and Ellie Robson (Birkbeck, University of London)to discuss the life and work of Mary Midgley. Lees meer
Greg is Professor and Chair of Philosophy and Religious Studies at The College of Idaho, USA. His research focuses on the thought of Mary Midgley and the intersection of animal and environmental ethics. He is the author of Mary Midgley: An Introduction (Bloomsbury, 2020) and is currently working on a book based on his interviews with Midgley from 2011-18 titled Mary Midgley on What Matters: Conversations on Science, Ethics, and Nature (Bloomsbury, forthcoming).
You can buy 'Mary Midgley: An Introduction' here: https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/9781350047563
Ellie recently completed her PhD at Birkbeck, University of London. In her thesis, Ellie argues that Midgley’s meta-ethics is best-read as a form of Neo-Aristotelian naturalism. Her research addresses the neglect of 20th century women philosophers from analytic philosophy and provides an explanation of Midgley’s relative oversight within this tradition.
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The Black Prince Podcast
15 juli 2023 · 1 uur 5 min
In this episode Miles is joined by Prof. Anne Rowe (Chichester and Kingston) to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of what may be Murdoch's greatest novel. Lees meer
Anne is Visiting Professor at the IMRC at Chichester and Emeritus Research Fellow at Kingston. Her many books include 'Iris Murdoch' in the 'Writers and their Work' Series, which you can purchase at a discounted rate from the Society, here:
https://irismurdochsociety.org.uk/product/iris-murdoch-writers-and-their-work/
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A Terribly Serious Adventure Podcast
22 mei 2023 · 1 uur
In this episode Miles is joined by Nikhil Krishnan(University of Cambridge)to discuss his new book 'A Terribly Serious Adventure: Philosophy at Oxford 1900-1960'. Lees meer
https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/A-Terribly-Serious-Adventure-by-Nikhil-Krishnan/9781800812369
We cover the change in generational thinking, the rise of linguistic analysis and 'ordinary language philosophy', and the key figures of the time, including Ryle, Ayer, J.L. Austin and, of course, the Quartet: Anscombe, Foot, Midgley and Murdoch.
Nikhil Krishnan is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Robinson College. He wrote his doctorate in Philosophy at Balliol College, Oxford and his work has appeared in the New Yorker, the New Statesman and he regularly reviews a wide range of books for the Daily Telegraph.
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Childhood and Adolescents Podcast
6 mei 2023 · 1 uur 19 min
In this podcast is joined by Jan Skinner (Oxford) and Anne Rowe (Chichester and Kingston) to discuss the range of children and adolescents in Murdoch's work. What purpose do they serve? And why are so many damaged and dangerous? Lees meer
Novels discussed in depth include The Sandcastle, An Unofficial Rose, The Nice and the Good, The Sacred and Profane Love Machine, The Bell, The Green Knight, Jackson's Dilemma and The Italian Girl.
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Beyond Murdoch: The Experimentalists
27 april 2023 · 57 min
Miles is joined by Carole Sweeney (Goldsmiths University, London) and Joe Darlington (Futureworks Media, Manchester) to discuss a range of authors who emerged post-World War 2, inspired by the works of the high modernists and the French Nouveau Roman. They were writing at the same time as Murdoch, but in very different modes and genres. Do they even form a real grouping? Lees meer
Authors discussed, or mentioned, include: Brigid Brophy, Anthony Burgess, Christine Brooke-Rose, Angela Carter, Eva Figes, B.S. Johnson, Anna Kavan, Ann Quin, Muriel Spark, as well as those in their circles, and those who published them.
Joseph Darlington is the author of The Experimentalists (Bloomsbury, 2021), as well as Christine Brooke-Rose and Post-War Literature (Palgrave, 2021), and British Terrorist Novels of the 1970s (Palgrave, 2018). He was editor of BSJ: The B.S. Johnson Journal and now co-edits the Manchester Review of Books.
https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/experimentalists-9781350244405/
https://www.waterstones.com/book/christine-brooke-rose-and-post-war-literature/joseph-darlington/9783030759056Carole Sweeney is Reader in English Literature and Goldsmith University, London and focuses on the intersections of race, class, sexualities and gender in modern and contemporary literature and culture. Her first book, From Fetish to Subject: Race, Modernism and Primitivism, examined how the colonial iconography of the black body was deployed in cultural modernism and how anti-colonial and decolonising cultural movements emerged in opposition to this aesthetic racialisation. She followed up this work by publishing widely on Francophone-African writing, in particular by women writers and then by examining racism, anti-feminism and misogyny in contemporary fiction. Her most recent book Vagabond Fictions: Gender and Experiment in British Women's Literature 1945-1970 examines the evolution of feminism and sexual identity in post-war Britain. Carole's current research project is on the continuin…
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Before Murdoch: Dorothy Emmet Podcast
3 maart 2023 · 58 min
Miles is joined by Larry Blum (U-Mass) to discuss the life and work of Dorothy Emmet, a philosopher of the prior generation to Murdoch who work in numerous different areas of the subject. Later in her life she and Murdoch became friends ; Larry sees her work as in some ways very much in the spirit of the Quartet’s, though in other ways quite different.. Emmet and Murdoch had some significant areas of professional and personal contact. Lees meer
You can find out more about Larry here: www.lawrenceblum.net/
You can hear more about Larry's journey on the wonderful Five Questions Podcast: anchor.fm/kieran-setiya
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Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals Podcast 2
9 februari 2023 · 1 uur 6 min
Miles is joined by Megan Laverty (Columbia, USA) and Evgenia Mylonaki (Patraas, Greece) to discuss their joint reading of Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals. You can find out substantive handout for the podcast where they highlight their reading here: Lees meer
Megan is an Associate Professor and Director of the Philosophy and Education Program at Teachers College, Columbia University. She teaches graduate courses on ethics, aesthetics, and philosophy of education. Megan is the author of Iris Murdoch’s Ethics: A Consideration of her Romantic Vision (Bloomsbury, 2007) and contributed a chapter on civility to The Murdochian Mind (Routledge, 2022) https://www.tc.columbia.edu/faculty/ml2524/
Evgenia is assistant professor of Practical Philosophy at the Philosophy Department of the University of Patras, Greece. Her written work is primarily in ethics (moral experience and virtuous reasoning) and the philosophy of action (metaphysics of action, practical knowledge, and rationality). She is the co-editor of the book Reason in Nature (out in 2022 by HUP, co-edited with Matthew Boyle, University of Chicago). https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674241046
She works on the philosophies of Iris Murdoch, Elizabeth Anscombe and Philippa Foot and I have a special philosophical interest in animal lives, in the collapse of ways of living and in art (film, photography and the novel). I am currently working on a book project with the title "Moral Growth; A Study of Ethics in Experience". You can find her published work, and her website, via these links.
https://www.springerprofessional.de/en/the-individual-in-pursuit-of-the-individual-a-murdochian-account/16322292
https://periodicos.sbu.unicamp.br/ojs/index.php/manuscrito/article/view/8654130/18852https://www.evgeniamylonaki.net/
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An Unofficial Rose Podcast
29 december 2022 · 58 min
Joining Miles to discuss Murdoch's sixth novel are Dr Frances White and Lucy Oulton, both from the Iris Murdoch Research Centre at the University of Chichester.
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Iris Murdoch, Philosopher Podcast
29 november 2022 · 56 min
In this episode Miles is joined by Justin Broackes (Brown, USA) and Meredith Trexler-Drees (Notre Dame, US) to discuss and celebrate Justin's edited collection 'Iris Murdoch, Philosopher' which was published in 2012. We range across the collection, the work it inspired including Meredith's latest monograph, and discuss Justin's latest work on Murdoch's Heidegger Manuscript and his commentary on the Sovereignty of Good, both forthcoming with OUP. Lees meer
You can find the collection here:
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/iris-murdoch-philosopher-9780198701200?cc=ro&lang=en&
Justin is Professor of Philosophy at Brown, and his present research focuses on issues in metaphysics and the theory of perception, and their connections with the history of the subject. Special areas of interest include: Theory of Color and Color-Perception, from the Ancient Greeks to the present; Color-Blindness; and the Notion of Substance, and what became of that idea in the 17th and 18th centuries and after. In addition, he is working on a book on Iris Murdoch's The Sovereignty of Good and editing her monograph on Martin Heidegger.
Meredith is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Religion and Philosophy at Kansas Wesleyan University. Her recent book, Aesthetic Experience and Moral Vision in Plato, Kant, and Murdoch: Looking Good/Being Good (Palgrave 2021) presents an extended version of Iris Murdoch’s moral vision. She is currently continuing her work on Murdoch and Kant at the Centre for Philosophy of Religion at the University of Notre Dame.
You can find her latest monograph here:
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-79088-2
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SEP Podcast
23 september 2022 · 47 min
In this episode I'm joined by Professor Larry Blum (U-Mass, USA) to discuss his recent entry on Murdoch in the Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy. We discuss his early interest in Murdoch in the 70s, her connections with his philosophical life and the construction of the article, as well as the difficulties in reading Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals. Lees meer
You can find the article here: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/murdoch/
You can find out more about Larry here: http://www.lawrenceblum.net/
You can hear more about his own journey on the wonderful Five Questions Podcast: https://anchor.fm/kieran-setiya
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Metaphysical Animals Podcast
11 augustus 2022 · 1 uur 2 min
Miles is joined by Clare Mac Cumhaill and Rachael Wiseman to discuss their new book, Metaphysical Animals. Lees meer
https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Metaphysical-Animals-by-Clare-Mac-Cumhaill-Rachael-Wiseman/9781784743284
Clare Mac Cumhaill (pronounced Mc Cool!) is a philosopher of mind, working mostly on perception, but with interests in emotion and action, as well as aspects of the metaphysics of mind, and in topics relating to aesthetics. Most of her work is on perception of space, and spatial properties. Her doctoral thesis looked at the perception of empty space and she is still somewhat hung up on this topic, though the ambit of her interests has expanded into working out what explanatory work reflection on space can do, in particular in trying to characterize the nature of our experience in ways that make it immune to skeptical re-description.
With Rachael Wiseman (Liverpool), she is co-director of the In Parenthesis project, which focuses on the life, work and friendships of Iris Murdoch, Philippa Foot, Elizabeth Anscombe and Mary Midgley (sometimes called the Quartet). The project is investigating whether the collective corpus of these philosophers has the hallmarks of a distinct philosophical school. Read about it here: http://www.womeninparenthesis.co.uk/
Rachael Wiseman work at the intersection of philosophy of mind, action and ethics and has published mainly on the work of G. E. M. Anscombe and Ludwig Wittgenstein.
She is currently working on an AHRC-funded project, Perception, Action and the Genesis of Everyday Ethics (PAGE). The project, with Dr Clare MacCumhaill (Durham) is a study of the lives and philosophy of 'The Quartet' of women philosophers who met at Oxford during WWII: Anscombe, Philippa Foot, Mary Midgley and Iris Murdoch (www.womeninparenthesis.co.uk). As well as studying the philosophy of four wonderfully creative thinkers they want to understand why there are so few women in philosophy and to work out what they might do about it!
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Ethics Of Attention Podcast
4 augustus 2022 · 44 min
Miles is joined by Silvia Caprioglio Panizza to discuss her new book 'The Ethics of Attention: Engaging the Real with Iris Murdoch and Simone Weil'. You can find out more about the book, here: Lees meer
https://www.routledge.com/The-Ethics-of-Attention-Engaging-the-Real-with-Iris-Murdoch-and-Simone/Panizza/p/book/9780367756932
Silvia Caprioglio Panizza is Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at the Centre for Ethics, University of Pardubice, and a fellow of the PEriTiA project (Policy, Expertise, and Trust in Action) at the Centre for Ethics in Public Life, University College Dublin. She has edited and translated Simone Weil’s Venice Saved with Philip Wilson (2019) and co-edited (with Mark Hopwood) The Murdochian Mind (Routledge, 2022).
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In Conversation - Gillian Dooley
1 augustus 2022 · 33 min
Gillian Dooley (Flinders University, Australia) is in conversation with Lucy Bolton (QMUL, UK) about her new book, 'Listening to Iris Murdoch: Music, Sounds and Silences' (Palgrave, 2022) - the first book in the 'Iris Murdoch Today' Series. Lees meer
As Lucy says about the Gillian's book: 'When we think of Iris Murdoch’s relationship with art forms, the visual arts come most readily to mind. However, music and other sounds are equally important. Soundscapes – music and other types of sound – contribute to the richly textured atmosphere and moral tenor of Murdoch’s novels. This book will help readers to appreciate anew the sensuous nature of Iris Murdoch’s prose, and to listen for all kinds of music, sounds and silences in her novels, opening up a new sub-field in Murdoch studies in line with the emerging field of Word and Music Studies.
This study is supported by close readings of selected novels exemplifying the subtle variety of ways she deploys music, sounds and silence in her fiction. It also covers Murdoch’s knowledge of music and her allusions to music throughout her work, and includes a survey of musical settings of her words by various composers.'
Find out more here: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-00860-3
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The Wallace Collection Podcast
28 juli 2022 · 54 min
Join Anne Rowe and Miles Leeson as they guide you around London's Wallace Collection, stopping off to discuss three key paintings that feature in Murdoch's novels: Hal's Laughing Cavalier, Titian's 'Perseus and Andromeda', and Rembrandt's 'Titus, the Artist's Son'. These feature in her first novel 'Under the Net' and her Booker Prize-winning 'The Sea, The Sea', respectively. You can view them here: Lees meer
https://www.wallacecollection.org/art/exhibitions-displays/past-exhibitions/frans-hals-the-male-portrait/
https://wallacelive.wallacecollection.org/eMP/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module=collection&objectId=65351&viewType=detailView
https://www.wallacecollection.org/art/collection/collection-highlights/titus-artists-son/
Anne Rowe is Visiting Professor at the Iris Murdoch Research Centre at the University of Chichester. Her many books include the first work on Murdoch and Art 'The Visual Arts and the Novels of Iris Murdoch', as well as 'Iris Murdoch' in the Writers and their Work Series.
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The Murdochian Mind Podcast
23 juni 2022 · 45 min
In this episode I'm joined by Silvia Caprioglio Panizza (University College Dublin, and the Centre for Ethics as Study in Human Value, University of Pardubice) and Mark Hopwood (Sewanne, University of the South, USA) to discuss their recently published edited collection 'The Murdochian Mind'. Lees meer
Silvia Caprioglio Panizza is Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at the Centre for Ethics, University of Pardubice, and a fellow of the PEriTiA project (Policy, Expertise, and Trust in Action) at the Centre for Ethics in Public Life, University College Dublin. She has edited and translated Simone Weil’s Venice Saved with Philip Wilson (2019) and is the author of The Ethics of Attention: Engaging the Real with Iris Murdoch and Simone Weil (2022).
Mark Hopwood is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at The University of the South, Sewanee, USA. He has published articles on a range of topics in moral philosophy, including love, narcissism, hypocrisy, and the nature of moral judgment, and is currently writing a book on Iris Murdoch’s ethics.
You can find out more about the book, and purchase a copy, here:
https://www.routledge.com/The-Murdochian-Mind/Panizza-Hopwood/p/book/9780367468019
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Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals Podcast 1
14 april 2022 · 59 min
To celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of Murdoch's 'Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals' I'm joined by Gillian Dooley (Flinders University, Australia), Nora Hämäläinen (University of Pardubice, Czech Republic), and Frances White (IMRC, Chichester) to give an introductory overview of the work. As this is Murdoch's magnum opus this is the first in a series of four podcasts being released in 2022 focusing on it. Lees meer
You can find Gillian and Nora's edited collection 'Reading Iris Murdoch's Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals' here:
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-18967-9?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=google_books&utm_campaign=3_pier05_buy_print&utm_content=en_08082017Gillian Dooley is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow in English at Flinders University, Australia. She was the founding general editor of the Flinders Humanities Research Centre's electronic journal Transnational Literature from 2008-2018, and was founding co-editor of Writers in Conversation 2014-2020. She has published three monographs, several scholarly editions and more than 100 journal articles and book chapters including the co-edited Reading Iris Murdoch's Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals. Her latest work Listening to Iris Murdoch: Music, Sounds and Silences will be published in the ‘Iris Murdoch Today’ series with Palgrave Macmillan in July this year.
Nora Hämäläinen is a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Ethics as study in Human value at the University of Pardubice in the Czech Republic. As well as being the author of Literature and Moral Theory and Descriptive Ethics: What Does Moral Philosophy Know About Morality she is also the co-editor of Reading Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals with Gillian. She is currently working on two interrelated projects: completing a monograph called The Making of the Good Person: Moral Philosophy, Self-Help and Technologies of the Self, where I look at some discussions on self-transformation and self-development in philosophy and popular culture. She …
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Lecture: 'Iris and the Christians: what did the Christian churches make of Murdoch, 1954-1983'
2 maart 2022 · 52 min
This lecture was given by Peter Webster, a scholar of contemporary religious history, with a particular interest in the religious arts. His most recent book was the first biography of Walter Hussey; Dean of Chichester and patron of the arts. Lees meer
The audio recording of a public lecture given at the University of Chichester on 19th February 2022, as part of a study day at the Iris Murdoch Research Centre. My thanks are due to Miles Leeson for the invitation, and to the audience for a very engaged and stimulating discussion afterwards.
I examine Christian reactions to Murdoch’s work in three areas: her strictly philosophical work on metaphysics and ethics, and her novels. I explore the remarkable closeness of Murdoch’s distinctive preoccupations to those of British theologians in the period. However, her position outside the usual circles of Christian discourse made it difficult for her to be heard and, when she was, her fundamentally atheistic position made her philosophical work hard to digest. The final third of the paper then looks at Christian readings of her novels, in which readers found much more congenial material with which to engage.
Authors discussed include: (among the theologians) Don Cupitt, Colin Gunton, Eric Mascall, Alasdair Macintyre, John A.T. Robinson, Keith Ward; among the critics: Bernard Bergonzi, Ruth Etchells, David Holbrook, Valerie Pitt. In relation to aesthetics, there is some discussion of Walter Hussey, Anglican patron of the arts.
https://peterwebster.me/2022/02/21/iris-and-the-christians-what-did-the-british-churches-make-of-murdoch-1954-c1983/
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Iris Film Podcast
28 januari 2022 · 53 min
In this episode Miles is joined by Lucy Bolton (Queen Mary, University of London), Lisa Smithstead (University of Exeter), and Melanie Williams (University of East Anglia)- three noted film scholars - to discuss the impact and legacy of the Oscar-winning film 'Iris', based on the first of John Bayley's memoirs about his wife, Iris Murdoch. Lees meer
You can find Lucy's book on Murdoch here: https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-contemporary-cinema-and-the-philosophy-of-iris-murdoch.html and her essay on the film itself, here: https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt16d6996.10?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents
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Iris Murdoch and the Others Podcast
20 januari 2022 · 58 min
In this podcast Miles is joined by Paul Fiddes, Professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Oxford, to discuss his latest book, Iris Murdoch and the Others: A Writer in Dialogue with Theology. Lees meer
Paul is the author or editor of over twenty five books, including recent publications on Lewis and Williams, and a forthcoming monograph on Shakespeare later in 2022.
Find the book here: https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Iris-Murdoch-and-the-Others-by-Paul-S-Fiddes/9780567703347
You can find out more about Paul, and his research centre, The Centre for Theology and Modern European Thought, here: https://ctmet.theology.ox.ac.uk/home
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Sartre Podcast
20 december 2021 · 1 uur 14 min
In this episode I'm joined by Justin Broackes (Brown, USA), Gary Browning (Oxford Brookes), and Alison Scott-Baumann (SOAS)to discuss Murdoch's lifelong engagement with the fiction and philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre. From her first meeting with him in Brussels in 1945, right the way through to 'Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals'. Have your copy of Sartre: Romantic Rationalist to hand! Lees meer
Justin is the Editor of 'Iris Murdoch, Philosopher': https://www.bookdepository.com/Iris-Murdoch-Philosopher-Justin-Broackes/9780198701200?ref=grid-view&qid=1639760683318&sr=1-1
Gary is the author of 'Why Iris Murdoch Matters': https://irismurdochsociety.org.uk/product/why-iris-murdoch-matters/
Alison is the co-editor of 'Iris Murdoch and the Moral Imagination': https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0786440260?tag=bookfinder-test-b-21&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1&language=en_GB&selectObb=new
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In Conversation: Paul Hullah Podcast
13 december 2021 · 56 min
In this podcast Miles is joined by Paul Hullah, Associate Professor of English Literature at Meiji Gakuin, and President of the Iris Murdoch Society of Japan. Lees meer
Paul discusses his early life, literature, music and his meeting and subsequent friendship with Iris Murdoch. He and Yozo Muroya edited the only collection of Murdoch's poetry to date, as well as a volume of her essays. We talk about her poetry and why she changed Paul's life.
Unfortunately the 'Poems' collection is out-of-print, but Paul hopes to have some copies available in 2022. 'Occasional Essays' by Iris Murdoch is available via Amazon.
You can find Paul's tribute to Iris here: https://youtu.be/8q7BV6c2vUE
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The Women are up to Something Podcast
17 november 2021 · 54 min
Joining me today is Prof. Benjamin Lipscomb (Houghton College, NY, USA) to discuss his new book 'The Women are up to Something' which considers the four women who changed philosophy in the mid-Twentieth Century: Elizabeth Anscombe, Philippa Foot, Mary Midgley, and Iris Murdoch. Lees meer
You can buy it here! https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/The-Women-Are-Up-to-Something-by-Benjamin-J-Bruxvoort-Lipscomb/9780197541074
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Elizabeth Bowen Podcast
10 november 2021 · 1 uur 11 min
The new season of the podcast starts with a special on the author, essayist, critic, spy, journalist and much else besides, Elizabeth Bowen. She was a friend of Iris Murdoch (whom she influenced) 'I was very fond of her...she should have been Queen', Virginia Woolf, and many more. She's now seen as a major figure of Twentieth Century culture. Lees meer
Joining me to discuss her life and work are Nicola Darwood (University of Bedfordshire, Allan Hepburn (McGill University, Canada), and Nicolas Royle (University of Sussex). All three have written and published widely on Bowen's work and are experts in the field.
The Bowen - Welty Letters mentioned can be found here: https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/10.3366/iur.2021.0501
More on the relationship between Bowen and Murdoch here.
https://irismurdochsociety.org.uk/2020/09/01/literary-motherhood-elizabeth-bowen-and-iris-murdoch/ -
Lecture: Cora Diamond 'Murdoch off the Map, or Taking Empiricism back from the Empiricists’
21 juli 2021 · 50 min
*The handout for this lecture is available on the IMS Facebook Page (link in Bio) or by emailing ims@chi.ac.uk Lees meer
Cora Diamond is a leading American philosopher who is well known for her contributions to the interpretation of Wittgenstein and Frege, for her contributions to the philosophy of logic, mind, language, as well as to ethics, the philosophy of literature, and the philosophical inquiry into our relation as humans to other animals.
Her three areas of greatest influence are in the philosophical foundations of logic, the interpretation of Wittgenstein, and the ethical treatment of animals. Partly under the influence of lessons she arrives at through her own original reading of Wittgenstein, she has criticised mainstream tendencies in analytic philosophy across a dizzying range of subdisciplines. Alongside publishing a dozen or so of the most widely discussed articles on Wittgenstein ever written, she has written several dozen articles advancing powerful and influential criticisms of almost every major living figure who takes themselves to be applying Wittgenstein’s ideas to some major area of philosophical research – be it in philosophical logic, contemporary moral theory, animal studies, philosophy and literature, or the study of the history of the analytic tradition of philosophy. Her work has thereby given rise to one whole movement in the interpretation of Wittgenstein (known in the contemporary literature as the resolute reading), to yet another in contemporary moral philosophy and metaethics (known as the realistic spirit approach to ethical problems), and to yet a third in the more narrowly focused field of the moral status of animals (known as the our fellow creatures approach).
She has taught at the Universities of Swansea, Sussex, Aberdeen and since 1971 at the University of Virginia, where she is now professor emerita.
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In Conversation: Avril Horner and Sarah Perry
19 juli 2021 · 51 min
This 'In Conversation' talk was given as part of the first online Iris Murdoch Conference on the 15th July, 2021. Sarah and Avril discuss the importance of Iris’ use of the gothic, and the impact it had on Sarah's own fiction. Lees meer
Avril Horner (Emeritus Professor, Kingston University) is a world-leading expert in the Gothic. She has co-edited collection on Murdoch’s work, as well as ‘Living on Paper: Letters from Iris Murdoch’ with Anne Rowe. Her biography of Barbara Comyns is forthcoming.
Sarah Perry is the internationally best selling author of the novels Melmoth, The Essex Serpent, and After Me Comes the Flood, and the non-fiction Essex Girls. She is a winner of the Waterstone’s Book of the Year Awards and the British Book Awards, and has been nominated for major literary prizes including the Women’s Prize for Fiction, the Dylan Thomas Prize, the Folio Prize and the Costa Novel Award. Her essays have been widely published, and she has contributed to the Guardian, the New York Times, the Observer, and the London Review of Books. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and has a PhD in Creative Writing, and has been a UNESCO City of Literature Writer in Residence in Prague, and a Writer in Residence at Gladstone’s Library and the Savoy Hotel in London. Her second novel, the No. 1 bestseller The Essex Serpent, is currently being adapted for television, starring Claire Danes in the lead role.
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Iris Murdoch and Peter Pan Podcast
18 juni 2021 · 53 min
Joining me to discuss Iris' love of Peter Pan, and her use of Barrie's story in her own fiction, are Anne Rowe and Frances White, both from the Research Centre at Chichester. Lees meer
Peter Pan is referenced in nine of her novels, from An Unofficial Rose (1962) through to The Green Knight (1993) although we focus on A Word Child (1975)which the strongest imbued with him.
You can find more material in Anne and Cheryl Bove's 'Sacred Space, Beloved City' here:
https://www.cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-4438-0066-2
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Iris Murdoch and Childhood Reading Podcast
17 mei 2021 · 1 uur 12 min
Joining me to discuss Murdoch's childhood reading, and its impact on her fiction, are Jan Skinner (formerly a tutor at Oxford's Continuing Education Department) and Anne Rowe (Chichester/Kingston). Lees meer
The main books discussed are Treasure Island, the Alice Books, and Kipling's Kim.
A taster of Jan's essay can be found here: https://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9780230348288 and if you'd like the full text please get in touch.
Anne's latest book can be purchased from the Society here:https://irismurdochsociety.org.uk/product/iris-murdoch-writers-and-their-work/
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Iris Murdoch and Religion Podcast
7 mei 2021 · 1 uur 13 min
Joining me to discuss Murdoch and Religion are Christopher Gowans (Fordham, USA), Scott H. Moore (Baylor, USA) and Frances White (IMRC, Chichester). We cover her life, tensions in her beliefs, her desire for a demythologised Christianity, and her later interest in Buddhism. Lees meer
Chris' website can be found here: http://christophergowans.com
Scott's new book, 'How to Burn a Goat: Farming with the Philosophers': https://www.baylorpress.com/9781481311526/how-to-burn-a-goat/
Frances' award-winning biography: https://irismurdochsociety.org.uk/ims-shop/
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Iris Murdoch and the Common Reader Podcast
2 april 2021 · 58 min
Joining me for this podcast are two Murdoch fans who consider themselves to be 'common readers' (a term taken from Virginia Woolf).Kent Wennman is an artist, musician, and much more; Liz Dexter is a blogger, proof reader, and author of 'Iris Murdoch and the Common Reader'. We discuss what makes Murdoch appeal to all types of reader, and how she might be relevant to new readers in the Twenty-First Century. Lees meer
Liz's Book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Iris-Murdoch-Common-Reader-Dexter/dp/1974249646
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Iris Murdoch, Music And Singing Podcast
5 maart 2021 · 1 uur 6 min
In this podcast I'm joined by Gillian Dooley (Flinders University, Australia) and Elin Svenneby to discuss Murdoch, music and singing. Along the way we cover most of the novels, consider how the philosophy of Plato, Schopenhauer and Weil might be connected to her thoughts about this artform, and discuss natural sounds and silence. Lees meer
Gillian's latest book: https://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9783030189662
Elin's Book: https://www.haugenbok.no/iris-murdochs-velvalgte-ord/svenneby-elin/9788274191662
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Murdoch among her Contemporaries Podcast
26 februari 2021 · 1 uur 11 min
Joining me to discuss William Golding, Doris Lessing and Muriel Spark in relation to their own work (and Iris!) are James Bailey (University of Sheffield), Nicola Presley (University of Bath Spa), and Nonia Williams (University of East Anglia). We cover the novels, of course, but also politics, feminism, WW2, the influence of travel, mysticism and much more! Lees meer
James' new book on Spark: https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-muriel-spark-s-early-fiction.html
Nonia's recent Edited Collection: https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-british-avant-garde-fiction-of-the-1960s.html
Nicola's Work: https://www.bathspa.ac.uk/our-people/nicola-presley/
The William Golding Website: https://william-golding.co.uk/
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Archive Podcast
25 januari 2021 · 1 uur 6 min
In this episode Miles is (virtually) in the Murdoch collection at the Kingston University Archives; and joined by the Head Archivist, Dayna Miller, transcriber Rachel Hirschler, and one of the founders of the archive, Prof. Anne Rowe (Chichester and Kingston). Lees meer
We cover the letters, journals, links between novels and unpublished work, poetry, artwork, and much more.
To ask Dayna a question, or to book a visit, simply email: archives@kingston.ac.uk
Find the archive here: https://www.kingston.ac.uk/faculties/kingston-school-of-art/research-and-innovation/iris-murdoch/
Back Issues of the Review (for free!) here:
https://irismurdochsociety.org.uk/the-review/
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Peter J Conradi Podcast
18 januari 2021 · 57 min
In this podcast I'm joined by Prof Peter J. Conradi, Iris Murdoch's official biographer, to celebrate his own memoir, 'Family business', and to reflect on his biography of Iris, 'Iris Murdoch: A Life', twenty years after publication. He tells us about his relationship with Iris, her life, work and relationships, her unpublished novel 'Jerusalem', what he left unsaid until 'Family Business' (the final third of which is dedicated to her) and much more! Lees meer
You can buy 'Family Business' at a discounted price here until the end of February 2020: https://www.serenbooks.com/productdisplay/family-business-memoir using the code 'MURDOCH' at checkout.
The article by Leo Robson that Peter refers to can be found here: https://www.newstatesman.com/iris-murdoch-novels-reissued-criticism-biography-100-years
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Lecture - Iris Murdoch, Shakespeare and TS Eliot
4 januari 2021 · 53 min
In this lecture Rob Hardy (Emeritus, Henan Normal University, China) explores the consequences of two statements: (1) that Iris Murdoch was a shaman in the sense that Ted Hughes said that Shakespeare and T.S Eliot were, and (2) that Murdoch’s shamanism was deeply linked to the intertextuality of her fiction. Lees meer
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Iris Murdoch And Feminism Podcast
21 december 2020 · 1 uur 6 min
Joining me to discuss Iris Murdoch and feminism are Lucy Bolton, a film scholar from Queen Mary, University of London; Wendy Jones Nakanishi a literary scholar recently retired from Shikoku Gakuin University, Japan; and the artist and scholar Carol Sommer. Lees meer
Lucy's Book on Iris Murdoch and Film-Philosophy: https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-contemporary-cinema-and-the-philosophy-of-iris-murdoch.html
Carol's Book 'Cartography for Girls': https://www.blurb.co.uk/b/7203743-cartography-for-girls-an-a-z-of-orientations-ident
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Lecture - Iris Murdoch and William Blake
10 december 2020 · 43 min
George Steiner commented in Existentialists and Mystics that Iris Murdoch’s writings present ‘[l]uminous shades of Blake’s “holiness of the minute particular”’. This lecture explores some of the ways
in which Murdoch engages with this oft-maligned Romantic visionary, whose works are referenced in her fiction, her letters and her philosophy. Blake and Murdoch share a dialectical moral vision that
suggests the necessity for revolutionary violence, seeks an acknowledgement of evil, and invites the individual to attend to the world around them. Lees meerDr Daniel Read completed his doctoral studies at Kingston University.
This lecture was given at the University of Chichester in February, 2018.
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A Fairly Honourable Defeat Podcast
16 november 2020 · 1 uur 10 min
Joining Miles on the podcast are Peter J. Conradi FRSL, author of the authorised biography, 'Iris Murdoch: A Life', as well as his own memoir 'Family Business' (2019); the novelist Garth Greenwell, author of 'What Belongs to You' and 'Cleanness' (2020); and the literary critic and former Deputy Director of PEN, Catherine Taylor. Lees meer
Peter's Memoir: https://www.serenbooks.com/productdisplay/family-business-memoir
Garth's New Novel: https://www.waterstones.com/book/cleanness/garth-greenwell/9781509874637
Catherine's Latest work in the Times Literary Supplement: https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/reduced-to-body-parts/
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In Conversation: The Unicorn
19 oktober 2020 · 51 min
This recording from 2019 features Miles Leeson and Anne Rowe, both from the Iris Murdoch Research Centre at the University of Chichester, discussing Murdoch's novel 'The Unicorn'.
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Iris Murdoch and Ireland Podcast
9 oktober 2020 · 1 uur 7 min
In this episode, Miles is joined by Ian D'Alton (Trinity College, Dublin), Gillian Dooley (Flinders University Australia) and Frances White (IMRC, Chichester) to discuss Iris' Irishness. Areas covered include her biography and links with Irish culture, along with the novels 'The Unicorn', 'The Red and the Green', and her only short story 'Something Special'. Lees meer
Ian's article on her Irishness:
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/in-praise-of-iris-murdoch-by-ian-d-alton-1.2235736
Gillian's New work: https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030189662
Frances' biography:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Becoming-Iris-Murdoch-Frances-White/dp/1899999604/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=white+iris+murdoch&qid=1602192322&sr=8-2
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Iris Murdoch for Beginners Podcast
21 september 2020 · 1 uur 11 min
Joining Miles to present a general introduction to Murdoch's life and work are Prof. Cheryl Bove (Ball State University, USA), Prof. Avril Horner (Kingston University, UK), and Kieran Setiya (MIT, USA). Lees meer
In this podcast we introduce each facet of Murdoch's life and work - her biography, fiction, philosophy, life writing, her love of London, and more. You can discover more via these links:
Avril's Co-edited collection of Murdoch's letters:
https://www.psbooks.co.uk/Living-on-Paper-9780701187057
Cheryl's book 'Understanding Iris Murdoch':
https://www.bookfinder.com/search/?ac=sl&st=sl&ref=bf_s2_a1_t1_1&qi=cw5b7Q6.xXFowro,ke3OyG,UAjs_1497963026_1:3:9&bq=author%3Dcheryl%2520browning%2520bove%26title%3Dunderstanding%2520iris%2520murdoch
Kieran's Website: http://www.ksetiya.net/ with a link to his own '5 Questions' Podcast
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Interview With Maureen Gryffd Jones
18 september 2020 · 1 uur 9 min
Maureen reflects on her time studying with Iris Murdoch (and others) at St Anne's College Oxford in the late 1950s, and reflects on the effect that it had on her later career as an academic. Interviewed by Miles Leeson from the IMRC, Chichester.
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Interview with Bryan Magee - Philosophy and Literature
28 augustus 2020 · 44 min
In this interview, first broadcast on the BBC in 1977, Murdoch discusses her work in both philosophy and literature with Bryan Magee. Lees meer
An excellent companion piece, by the Murdochian scholar Gillian Dooley, can be found here: https://www.abc.net.au/religion/iris-murdoch-and-her-philosophy-of-fiction/11889672
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Iris Murdoch and Swimming Podcast
25 augustus 2020 · 1 uur 11 min
Joining me to discuss Iris and Swimming are Natasha Alden from the University of Aberystwyth, Hannah Marije from St Mary's University of London, and Lucy Oulton from the research Centre at Chichester. Lees meer
We discuss her life writing, no-fiction, philosophy, and of course her fiction including:
Under the Net
The Bell
The Sea, The Sea
The Unicorn
A Fairly Honourable Defeat
The Philosopher's Pupil -
A Word Child Podcast
31 juli 2020 · 59 min
Joining Miles to discuss 'A Word Child' are Professor Rob Hardy from Henan Normal University, China; Dr Daniel read from Kingston University, and Maria Peacock from the Research Centre at Chichester.
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Iris Murdoch in the National Gallery Podcast
15 juli 2020 · 1 uur 3 min
Join me and my guest Anne Rowe as she guides us around London's National Gallery! We'll be stopping off at four paintings that appear in her novels: Lees meer
Gainsborough's portrait of his two daughters from 'The Bell'
https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/thomas-gainsborough-the-painters-daughters-chasing-a-butterflyBronzino's 'Allegory with Venus and Cupid' from 'The Nice and the Good'.
https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/bronzino-an-allegory-with-venus-and-cupidGiorgione's 'Il Tramonto' from 'The Sacred and Profane Love Machine'
https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/giorgione-il-tramonto-the-sunsetTitian's 'The Death of Acteon' from 'Henry and Cato'
https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/titian-the-death-of-actaeonAnne is the world's leading Murdoch scholar, and her particular interest is Murdoch and the Visual Arts. Her books mentioned in the podcast can be found here:
'Iris Murdoch' https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/books/id/51725/
'Sacred Space, Beloved City' https://www.cambridgescholars.com/sacred-space-beloved-city-15
Take a virtual tour here: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/visiting/virtual-tours
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Iris Murdoch and Politics Podcast
13 juli 2020 · 1 uur 5 min
Joining me to discuss Murdoch and Politics are Gary Browning (Oxford Brookes), author of 'Why Iris Murdoch Matters', Lesley Jamieson (Queen's University, Canada)who is conducting research into Murdoch's thought in the 1950s, and Vic Seidler (Goldsmiths, London) author of numerous works on sociology and politics. Lees meer
Gary's Book: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/why-iris-murdoch-matters-9781472574473/
Lesley's Latest Research: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-9752.12416
Vic's latest book: https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/making-sense-of-brexit
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Brigid Brophy Podcast
26 juni 2020 · 1 uur 2 min
Joining Miles in this special podcast on Brigid Brophy's life and work are Gerri Kimber, co-editor of the recent collection 'Brigid Brophy: Avant-Garde Writer, Critic, Activist'; Jonathan Gibbs, academic and novelist (whose latest novel 'The Large Door' is directly inspired by Brophy's 'The Snow Ball'); and Brophy's daughter, Kate Levey. Lees meer
Kate's Website: www.brigidbrophy.com
Gerri's co-edited collection: https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-brigid-brophy.html
Jonathan's Novel: https://www.boilerhouse.press/product-page/the-large-door
You can also listen to a 'Backlisted' Podcast on 'The Snow Ball' (featuring Jonathan) here: https://www.backlisted.fm/episodes/33-brigid-brophy-the-snow-ball
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In Conversation: The Bell
19 juni 2020 · 50 min
In 2016 Frances White (who you can also hear on the recent podcast) joined me at Chichester to discuss 'The Bell' with my students.
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The Bell Podcast
18 juni 2020 · 1 uur 9 min
My guests on this podcast are Dr Frances White, Deputy Director of the IMRC at Chichester and author of the short biography 'Becoming Iris Murdoch', Fr Mark Patrick Hederman Former Abbott of Glenstall Abbey in Ireland and author of two works with a focus on Murdoch (see below), and James Marriott, Deputy Books Editor of The Times. Lees meer
Frances Book: https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Becoming_Iris_Murdoch.html?id=9APuoQEACAAJ&redir_esc=y
Mark Patrick's Books:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Haunted-Inkwell-Art-Our-Future/dp/1856073475
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Opal-Pearl-Towards-Gyroscopic-Ethics/dp/178218306X/ref=sr_1_12?dchild=1&qid=1592437559&refinements=p_27%3AMark+Patrick+Hederman&s=books&sr=1-12&text=Mark+Patrick+Hederman
James' Webpage at The Times:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/profile/james-marriott?page=1
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Iris Murdoch and the Moving Image Podcast
28 mei 2020 · 1 uur 1 min
In this episode Miles is joined by Lucy Bolton (Queen Mary, University of London), Rebecca Moden (University of Chichester), and Anne Rowe (Chichester, and Kingston University) to discuss how Murdoch's use of imagery works in the novels, her inspirations, her relationship with painters and paintings, and how her philosophy can be brought to bear on the cinema and film-philosophy. Lees meer
Lucy's Book: https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-contemporary-cinema-and-the-philosophy-of-iris-murdoch.html
Link to Vogue Article: https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/vogue-archive-article-iris-murdoch
Anne's Book: https://mellenpress.com/book/Visual-Arts-and-the-Novels-of-Iris-Murdoch/4673/
Special Edition of the Iris Murdoch Review No. 8 on the Visual Arts (edited by Lucy, work by Anne and Rebecca)freely available here:
https://www.chi.ac.uk/humanities/public-humanities/literary-and-cultural-narrative/iris-murdoch-research-centre/iris-murdoch-review
Links to images mentioned:
Phillip's Portrait of Iris:
https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw07718/Iris-MurdochBronzino: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/bronzino-an-allegory-with-venus-and-cupid
Gainsborough: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/thomas-gainsborough-the-painters-daughters-chasing-a-butterfly
Rublev: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_(Andrei_Rublev)