Something Special

Something Special

by Iris Murdoch (Author)

Synopsis

Something Special was previously unpublished except in a 1950s anthology and in Japan, and rediscovered after her death. It is the only short story that Iris Murdoch ever wrote for publication. Set in Dublin, against the vividly recognisable backdrop of the writer's native city in the late fifties, Something Special is the story of Yvonne, an ordinary, bold young Irish woman who believes there's more to life than marriage to Sam, the respectable young man who's courting her. Written with verve and characteristic sly humour, it moves to a surprising climax and conclusion - a poignant, strangely haunting story about the incompatibility of dreams and desires.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 80
Edition: New Ed
Publisher: Vintage Classics
Published: 06 Sep 2001

ISBN 10: 0099422654
ISBN 13: 9780099422655
Book Overview: 'A delight for Murdoch enthusiasts' Guardian 20010730

Media Reviews
Iris Murdoch is among the most gifted descriptive and narrative writers in English - and certainly one of the most entertaining. * New York Review of Books *
A power of intellect quite exceptional in a novelist. * Sunday Times *
She is incapable of writing without fascinating and beautiful colour. * The Times *
A delight for Murdoch enthusiasts. * The Guardian *
Author Bio
Iris Murdoch was born in Dublin in 1919. She read Classics at Somerville College, Oxford, and after working in the Treasury and abroad, was awarded a research studentship in philosophy at Newnham College, Cambridge. In 1948 she returned to Oxford as fellow and tutor at St Anne's College and later taught at the Royal College of Art. Until her death in 1999, she lived in Oxford with her husband, the academic and critic, John Bayley. She was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1987 and in the 1997 PEN Awards received the Gold Pen for Distinguished Service to Literature. Iris Murdoch made her writing debut in 1954 with Under the Net. Her twenty-six novels include the Booker prize-winning The Sea, The Sea (1978), the James Tait Black Memorial prize-winning The Black Prince (1973) and the Whitbread prize-winning The Sacred and Profane Love Machine (1974). Her philosophy includes Sartre: Romantic Rationalist (1953) and Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals (1992); other philosophical writings, including The Sovereignty of Good (1970), are collected in Existentialists and Mystics (1997).