A Fairly Honourable Defeat
by:
Peter Reed (author)
Iris Murdoch (author)
In a dark comedy of errors, Iris Murdoch portrays the mischief wrought by Julius, a cynical intellectual who decides to demonstrate through a Machiavellian experiment how easily loving couples, caring friends, and devoted siblings can betray their loyalties. As puppet master, Julius artfully...
show more
In a dark comedy of errors, Iris Murdoch portrays the mischief wrought by Julius, a cynical intellectual who decides to demonstrate through a Machiavellian experiment how easily loving couples, caring friends, and devoted siblings can betray their loyalties. As puppet master, Julius artfully plays on the human tendency to embrace drama and intrigue and to prefer the distraction of confrontations to the difficult effort of communicating openly and honestly.
show less
Format: paperback
ISBN:
9780141186177 (0141186178)
Publish date: March 1st 2001
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Pages no: 432
Edition language: English
Category:
Classics,
Novels,
Literature,
European Literature,
British Literature,
Literary Fiction,
Irish Literature,
Philosophy,
Modern Classics,
Womens,
Glbt,
Gay
A Fairly Honourable Defeat had a great premise. A university professor, Julius, decides to test his friends' relationships by planting ideas and otherwise messing with their lives. He doesn't believe in love or emotional bonds - for him, relationships will always be selfish and one will abandon ones...
My favourite Murdoch. The weaknesses and hypocrisies of a group of well-to-do Londoners are dissected with painful precision.
I liked the premise of the book - a super-scientist conducting social experiments on unsuspecting, gullible couples and siblings to reveal how our hidden desires, insecurities, needs, perceptions of self drive our relationships, and not real, true love. But I did get bogged down in parts - couldnt t...
This is a tangled web set in the late 60s, concerning Rupert and Hilda; their 20 year old drop-out son Peter; Rupert’s younger brother Simon and his boyfriend Axel; Hilda’s unstable younger sister Morgan and her estranged husband Tallis and her former lover (and college friend of Rupert and Axel), J...
OK, it's not really the great novel it sets out to be, but it's very entertaining. Julius King is one of my all-time favorite bad guys. Go Julius! Destroy that relationship! Drive that man to madness and despair! Cut up that dress! Do the washing-up! Sort of a high-brow Hannibal Lecter-lite, as it w...
48 years ago
Log in with Facebook 
