Iris Murdoch has 5 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 10 narrators, with an average listener rating of 4.9★ across 9 ratings. The most-rated is A Fairly Honourable Defeat.
A Fairly Honourable Defeat
Summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
Vintage Classics Murdoch: Funny, subversive, fearless and fiercely intelligent, Iris Murdoch was one of the great writers of the 20th century. To celebrate her centenary, Vintage Classics presents special editions of her greatest and most timeless novels.
I feel there are demons around.
Everyone is thinking about Julius King. For comfortable, long-married Hilda and Rupert, he is a mystery. For Morgan, Hilda’s tormented sister, he is an obsession. For Morgan’s abandoned husband, Tallis, he is the source of ruin. For Simon and Axel, deeply in love, he stirs up jealousy and unease. What is Julius thinking about? He’s thinking about Hilda, Rupert, Morgan, Tallis, Simon and Axel, and they will not all survive his malevolent attention.
©1970 Iris Murdoch (P)2019 Penguin Audio
The Sea, the Sea
Summary
Brought to you by Penguin. Vintage Classics Murdoch: Funny, subversive, fearless and fiercely intelligent, Iris Murdoch was one of the great writers of the 20th century. To celebrate her centenary, Vintage Classics presents special editions of her greatest and most timeless novels. I saw a monster rising from the waves. Charles Arrowby has determined to spend the rest of his days in hermit-like contemplation. He buys a mysteriously damp house on the coast, far from the heady world of the theatre where he made his name, and there he swims in the sea, eats revolting meals and writes his memoirs. But then he meets his childhood sweetheart Hartley, and memories of her lovely, younger self crowd in - along with more recent lovers and friends - to disrupt his self-imposed exile. So instead of 'learning to be good', Charles proceeds to demonstrate how very bad he can be. Winner of the Man Booker Prize 1978.
©1978 Iris Murdoch (P)2020 Penguin Audio
The Black Prince
Summary
Brought to you by Penguin. Vintage Classics Murdoch: Funny, subversive, fearless and fiercely intelligent, Iris Murdoch was one of the great writers of the 20th century. To celebrate her centenary, Vintage Classics presents special editions of her greatest and most timeless novels. Every artist is an unhappy lover. And unhappy lovers want to tell their story. Ex-tax collector and author of two unpopular novels, Bradley Pearson wishes to devote his retirement to writing a masterpiece. But the doorbell and the phone keep ringing and every ring brings with it an ex-wife, a friend in need, a sister in trouble or a young woman seeking a teacher and so dusty, selfish Bradley is plunged into the muddles and mysteries which will end in his doom. Winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize 1973.
©1973 Iris Murdoch (P)2020 Penguin Audio
The Message to the Planet
Summary
For years, Alfred Ludens has pursued mathematician and philosopher Marcus Vallar in the belief that he possesses a profound metaphysical formula, a missing link of great significance to mankind. Luden's friends are more sceptical. Jack Sheerwater, painter, thinks Marcus is crazy. Gildas herne, ex-preist, thinks he is evil. Patrick Fenman, poet, is dying because he thinks Marcus has cursed him. Marcus has disappeared and must be found. But he is a genius, a hero struggling at the bounds of human knowledge. Is he seeking God, or is he just another victim of the Holocaust, which casts its shadow upon him and upon Ludens, both of them Jewish? Can human thinking discover the foundations of human consciousness? Iris Murdoch's endlessly inventive imagination has touched a fundamental question of our time.
©1989 Iris Murdoch (P)2002 Phoenix Books
Iris Murdoch: The Sea, the Sea, a Severed Head & Something Special
Summary
Full-cast dramatisations and a reading of works by Iris Murdoch, plus a bonus interview with the author herself. Booker Prize-winning author Iris Murdoch is renowned for her sublime fiction, exploring themes such as art, passion, morality and human freedom. Included in this collection are adaptations of two of her finest novels and a reading of her only published short story, as well as an edition of Writers Revealed in which Murdoch discusses her ideas and beliefs. The Sea, the Sea Charles Arrowby, celebrated actor, writer and director, has retired from his London world and come to the sea to become a hermit and draft his memoirs. But the past will not let him rest.... This dramatisation of Murdoch’s most famous novel, which won the Booker Prize in 1978, stars John Wood as Charles and Joyce Redman as Hartley. A Severed Head When Martin Lynch-Gibbon's wife runs off with her analyst and his best friend, Palmer Anderson, the three characters attempt to behave in a civilised manner. But there is the matter of Martin's mistress and Palmer's sister to contend with - and undoubtedly the thin veneer of civilisation will crack.... Iris Murdoch’s blackly comic satire on analysis and amorality stars Julian Rhind-Tutt, Victoria Hamilton and Matthew Marsh. Something Special Young Irishwoman Yvonne passionately believes that there is more to life than marriage to Sam, a respectable tailor's apprentice. But a night out in Dublin forces her to confront reality.... Read by Catherine Cusack. Writers Revisited: Iris Murdoch Iris Murdoch talks about faith, religion and the creative process in conversation with Rosemary Hartill.
©2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd