75th Episode Podcast

75th Episode Podcast

From The Iris Murdoch Society podcast by Iris Murdoch Society

February 16, 2026 · 58 min

About this episode

In this special 75th episode, Miles and guest Daniel Read discuss various questions about Iris Murdoch's life and work.

In this 75th Episode Special, Miles is joined by Daniel Read (Kingston University, UK) to answer questions from the Iris Murdoch Society and via the social media channels. You can find out much more, and join the society, here: www.irismurdochsociety.org.uk The questions sent in are: 1. Could Iris Murdoch drive? 2. How should Murdoch’s philosophical seriousness be reassessed in light of recent scholarship on her as a public intellectual? 3. In what ways did Murdoch’s Irish background shape her imagination, ethics, and sense of exile or belonging? 4. How has Murdoch’s relationship with religion and the sacred been represented differently in scholarship versus media portrayals? 5. How should Murdoch’s private life—especially her complex relationships—be integrated (or resisted) in critical interpretations of her novels? 6. What is Murdoch’s place within post-war British women’s writing, and why has she often been treated as an exception rather than part of a continuum? 7. How do contemporary debates about feminism, agency, and power reframe Murdoch’s representation of women? 8. Murdoch insists on the reality of the Good as something external and authoritative. How might that claim…

People in this episode

Host: Miles

Guest: Daniel Read

Topics covered

  • Iris Murdoch's philosophy
  • Murdoch's Irish background
  • Murdoch and religion
  • Murdoch's private life
  • post-war British women's writing
  • feminism and agency
  • Murdoch's late novels

Keywords

  • Iris Murdoch
  • philosophy
  • Irish background
  • religion
  • feminism
  • post-war literature
  • novels

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Iris Murdoch Society, Kingston University

Books & works: Iris Murdoch

Places: UK

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