Not long ago Iris Murdoch wrote an article in the Royal Journal of
Philosophy to the effect that ethical studies must be postponed
until we know more about psychology. Here she harps on both
strings, playing with a florid variety of temperaments and
consciences, as embodied in sybarites, penitents, con men, spirited
and dispirited women, adolescents, a Dachau survivor, an occultist,
and a neo-Calvinist hero investigating the suicide of his Foreign
Office colleague. Intricacies of theme are amplified by intricacies
of plot, which gains a real momentum, though never providing the
suspense of The Unicorn or the irony of The Severed Head. The
author's aggressively adjectival, over-interpretive voice rarely
subsides... but then when she leaves her characters alone they say
things like "'You've got to relive this thing, Paula, and not just
for Eric but for yourself.'" It's decidedly second-rate Murdoch,
pretentious and sententious; still, as a big, curl-uppable-with,
very novelistic novel (not so easy to come by these days, after
all) it will more than meet the demand. (Kirkus Reviews)
Iris Murdoch's richly peopled novel revolves round a happily married c ouple, Kate and Octavian, and the friends of all ages attached to thei r household in Dorset. The novel deals with love in its two aspects, t he self-gratifying and the impersonal; - the nice and the good - as th ey are embodied in a fascinating array of paired characters. THE NICE AND THE GOOD leads through stress and terror to a joyous and compassio nate 'Midsummer Nights Dream' conclusion, in which the couples all sor t themselves out neatly and omnia vincit amor.
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