The arrangement suits him just fine as is, but, of course, it doesn't stay as is.

We acknowledge (and remind and warn you) that they may, in fact, be entirely unrepresentative of the actual reviews by any other measure.Ī Severed Head is narrated by wine-merchant Martin Lynch-Gibbon, and the story begins with him at age forty-one, fairly happily married to Antonia, and with a young mistress, Georgie, on the side. Similarly the illustrative quotes chosen here are merely those the complete review subjectively believes represent the tenor and judgment of the review as a whole.

Please note that these ratings solely represent the complete review 's biased interpretation and subjective opinion of the actual reviews and do not claim to accurately reflect or represent the views of the reviewers. (.) But this is abrilliantly enjoyable book and leaves one, even after a careful first reading, with a feeling, as all Miss Murdoch's books do, that there is a central, large, and simple meaning which one has, somehow, just missed.' - G.S.Fraser, Times Literary Supplement

'In the dislikableness of its characters, the complication of its plotting, and the almost too consciously dazzling surface of its wit, A Severed Head recalls Congreve's The Way of the World.

(.) But this sophisticated shocker seems to have little point beyond the homely moral that those who think life would be simpler without moral rules are very simple indeed.' - Time

'Oxford Philosophy Don Iris Murdoch has written a novel about adultery so complex and involuted as to suggest an anthropologist's chart of the mating patterns of a tribe at once polygamous and polyandrous.

'Iris Murdoch erforscht die Impulse ihrer wieder rundum sichtbaren Figuren mit Sorgfalt, Sachverstand und nicht ohne Humor - trotzdem steigt aus dem Gedränge der Passionen so etwas wie unfreiwillige Komik auf.' - Der Spiegel.

A Severed Head was made into a film in 1970, directed by Dick Clement and starring Lee Remick, Richard Attenborough, Ian Holm, and Claire Bloomī+ : typical Murdochian tale of creepily messy relationships finely written.

The UK edition has an Introduction by Miranda Seymour.

General information | review summaries | our review | links | about the author Trying to meet all your book preview and review needs.

A Severed Head by Iris Murdoch