Thesis (Ph. D.)--Open University. BLDSC no. D51546/84.

Th. doct.--Littérature anglaise--Paris--Université de Paris IV-Sorbonne, 1997 (le 21 novembre). / Bibliogr. Index.

No description available.

Thesis--University of Florida. / Description based on print version record. Typescript. Vita. Bibliography: leaves 170-176.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1972. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliography.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1975. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

Iris Murdoch believes she writes in the English realist tradition and cites the creation of real characters as the main problem which confronts the modern novelist. Yet her own characterization, which this work explores (in relation to her aesthetics and moral philosophy) provides her greatest contribution to the development of the novel.An understanding of Murdoch's concept of characterization requires a knowledge of her philosophical heritage, its metaphysics, and consideration of the resulting theory of man with his capacity for reason, for communication, and for approaching truth. Accordingly, chapter I of this work introduces the critical writings which provide the theoretical background for Murdoch's characterization.Chapter II examines the factors which influence man's consciousness, thus establishing the difficulty which the change of consciousness proposed by Murdoch for moral development presents. These factors include the contingency of life, the loss of common religious background, man's historic past, and the inadequacy of language for communication.Chapter III considers the elements denoting man's moral status and development, as revealed through characterization, and concludes that Murdoch's characters reveal a degree of vision consistent with their moral status. Included here are characters from the twenty-one Murdoch novels who display six different levels of spiritual awareness: the Good, the nearly Good, the nice, the mediocre with knowledge, the fat egoists, and the black figures.Chapter IV considers the treatment of aesthetics and its relationship to moral philosophy within three novels which discuss writing, portrait painting, and the theatre at length: The Black Prince, The Sandcastle, and The Sea, The Sea.Finally, three appendices are intended to serve as useful sources for both Murdoch readers and scholars. Appendix A contains the bibliography of primary sources and some two hundred critical works about Murdoch's writing; Appendix B is a subject index for the topics common to the sources in the bibliography; Appendix C-is an annotated character index and guide for the twenty-one Murdoch novels to date.

This thesis considers the significance of the neurotic figure in six novels by Iris Murdoch. The novels used in this study are: An Accidental Man, The Bell, Bruno's Dream, The Nice and the Good, The Time of the Angels, and The Unicorn. This study identifies the recurring character type and establishes traits common to all Murdoch neurotic figures. These characters are discussed in terms of neurotic qualities, spiritual and physical isolation, and their ability to control their fellow characters' actions.This work also discusses the neurotic figure, who is unable to recognize others as separate from himself, as illustrative of the self-centered society which Iris Murdoch believes to exist today.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Dalhousie University, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references.