IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 2108 KUAS37
Held at: Kingston University
Title: Murdoch, Iris (1919-1999): Correspondence with Hazel Bell
Date(s): 1987-1992
Level of description: collection
Extent: 1 folder
Name of creator(s): Murdoch | Dame | Jean Iris | 1919-1999 | author x Murdoch | Iris
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Dame Jean Iris Murdoch was born on 15 July 1919 in Dublin; later moving with her family to Brook Green, Hammersmith. Murdoch was educated at Froebel Demonstration School at Colet Gardens; Badminton School, Bristol from 1932 and Somerville College Oxford; winning scholarships to both Badminton and Somerville College.
At Oxford, Murdoch was influenced by classicist, Eduard Fraenkel, and her philosophy tutor Donald MacKinnon and soon joined the Communist Party. Murdoch gained a first in Classics in 1942 and was employed as assistant principal in the Treasury, 1942-1944; later joining the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, working in London, Brussels and Austria. Murdoch returned to London in 1946 winning a place at Vassar College and a Commonwealth Scholarship, however as she had declared herself as a communist on her application for an American visa her application was denied. Murdoch studied at Newnham College, Cambridge, 1947-1948 and won a philosophy tutorship at St Anne's, Oxford, where she stayed until 1963, she later worked as a lecturer at Royal College of Art for four years.
Murdoch's first book Sartre: Romantic Rationalist was published in 1953 by Bowes and Bowes in a series titled 'Studies in Modern Thought' and her first novel Under the net was accepted for publication. She went on to write many books including The Bell, 1958, which achieved great commercial success and The Red and the Green, 1965, concerning the Easter rising, reflecting her Irish background. Murdoch was appointed DBE in 1987 and presented with an honorary degree from Kingston University in 1993. In 1997 Murdoch was diagnosed as suffering with Alzheimer's disease and died in Oxford on 8 February 1999.
Publications include: Existentialists and Mystics: Writings on Literature and Philosophy, 1997; A Fairly Honourable Defeat, 1970 and Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals, 1992.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Papers of Iris Murdoch, comprising correspondence with Hazel Bell, editor of The Indexer, concerning Bell's request that an index to all Murdoch's novels be created. The collection comprises Bell's initial letter seeking permission, 1987, and Murdoch's response, stating that she would not like an index to be compiled, 1987; Bell's later letter asking for permission to publish a quote from the letter from Murdoch, 1992, and Murdoch's written response, granting Bell permission to quote her, 1992.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
Arranged in original order.
Conditions governing access:
Open. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Contact archive for information concerning reproduction at archives@kingston.ac.uk.
Finding aids:
No additional finding aids currently exist.
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Accruals:
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
Acquired in 2006.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Related material:
KUAS35, KUAS12, KUAS50, KUAS8, KUAS11, KUAS28, KUAS7, KUAS9, KUAS10, KUAS39.
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Archivist's note: Sources: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online.
Entry compiled by Samantha Velumyl, AIM25 cataloguer.
Date(s) of descriptions: May 2008.