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A Fairly Honourable Defeat

3.93 of 5 stars 3.93 · rating details · 762 ratings · 83 reviews

Introduction by Susan Hill

In this dark comedy of errors, Julius, a cynical intellectual, decides to demonstrate through a Machiavellian experiment how easily loving couples, caring friends, and devoted siblings can betray their loyalties.

Paperback, 432 pages

Published March 1st 2001 by Penguin Classics (first published 1970)

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Jul 14, 2012 Marla Glenn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: save-for-winter

This paragraph at the beginning of the novel, after the first few lines of dialogue, captures why I love Iris Murdoch so much:

"Hilda and Rupert Foster, celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary with a bottle of rather dry champagne, were sitting in the evening sun in the garden of their house in Priory Grove, London. S.W.10. Hilda, a plumper angel now, reclined limply, exhibiting shiny burnished knees below a short shrift dress of orangey yellow. Her feet were bare. Her undulating dark hair...more

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Nov 22, 2012 Lillian rated it 3 of 5 stars

Cynical intellectual, Julius masterminds a real life drama between friends, siblings, lovers and spouses in an effort to illustrate his beliefs in the ease in which people fall in and out of love, the inability of people to communicate openly and honestly due to their own ego, and in man's misunderstanding of goodness and evil. His insensitive manipulation of people's emotions has profound implications.

Murdoch has masterfully woven philosophical elements into this dark comedy, highlighting human...more

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Apr 03, 2008 Tara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 20th-c-fiction

I love Iris Murdoch. This is not my favorite, but I do like it a good deal. I would have given this three and half stars if I could; since I wasn't able to, I let my adoration for Tallis and Simon determine my decision. In many Iris Murdoch books you kind of dislike most of the characters. This was one of the few where I really thought some of them were decent people. The title was pretty dead-on, and I felt strangely better at the end of this one than I often do with some her books. She's great...more

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Mar 24, 2008 Jana rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone who wants something different from the New York Times best seller list

Recommended to Jana by: I found it unread on my shelf

What an amazing classic! Murdock was a brilliant woman and her writing and philosophizing is proof of that. This book is an amazing look at dialogue and character development almost totally through dialogue. I've been reading so many modern books that it was a treat to read a classic again. The characters in this book are not worthy of our admiration or sympathy and yet I really did not want the "Iago" character to destroy everyone. I can see how she is credited with giving new life to the novel...more

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Feb 07, 2013 Nancy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 20th-century-classics

I first read this book in graduate school in the 70's and I've re-read it several times over the years. It may or may not be one of the best books I've ever read, but in some ways it is probably the most powerful.

For many years, it was the only Murdoch book I'd read, but over the past five years I've picked up others and that altered my reading experience this time. I still felt the chilly dread of what the characters were going to encounter next, but I was also hit over the head with Murdoch's...more

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Jun 25, 2012 Helen Kitson rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I always feel, when I read Murdoch, that I'm missing the big philosophical 'point' (or points) of her novels, which I'm not clever or observant enough to pick up. The trouble is that I expect her novels to be dry, to consist only of philosophical ponderings, and then every time I read another one I'm surprised by how compelling her storylines are, and I get so caught up in the story and the characters that I lose sight of any deeper intent.

There is often a touch of the lurid to her plots, which...more I always feel, when I read Murdoch, that I'm missing the big philosophical 'point' (or points) of her novels, which I'm not clever or observant enough to pick up. The trouble is that I expect her novels to be dry, to consist only of philosophical ponderings, and then every time I read another one I'm surprised by how compelling her storylines are, and I get so caught up in the story and the characters that I lose sight of any deeper intent.

There is often a touch of the lurid to her plots, which makes them rather fun. This particular novel is dominated by the malignant presence of Julius, a man with considerable disdain for the human race, largely disguised from his friends by his cleverness and urbane manner. For the sheer hell of it, it seems, he takes it upon himself to interfere in two relationships - the relatively recent one of Axel and Simon, and the longstanding marriage of Hilda and Rupert (Rupert being Simon's brother). His sense of mischief is kick-started, it seems, by his feelings of irritation for Rupert, whose goodness he refuses to believe is genuine. That human beings are flawed is a given, but Julius takes it a step further and seems to want to believe that even the best of people is a hypocrite, and that perfectly natural flaws are incompatible with goodness.

Axel and Simon come through the trial stronger as a couple, but Hilda and Rupert never get the chance to be reconciled, as Rupert dies (an accident? suicide?) while Hilda is away. Julius survives seemingly unscathed - hardly fair, but then, life isn't, and the 'baddies' don't always get their just desserts. I suppose one can at least wish upon him a lonely old age, but he has such charm that it's quite easy to imagine him charming someone into looking after him, if it came to that.

There are basically two types of women in Murdoch's novel. The first sort, the neurotic, needy bitch, is represented in this novel by Hilda's sister Morgan. Hilda herself is the second type of Murdoch woman - domesticated, benign, inoffensive, a bit stupid (not an intellectual, at any rate, which in Murdoch-land amounts to much the same thing). Neither type is particularly likeable, but then neither are her callow youths (Peter, in this novel) or her worldly cynics (Julius). However, one doesn't need to like Murdoch's characters to enjoy reading about what happens to them - even when what happens to them is sometimes farcical, and often gloriously melodramatic. [Sept 2004] (less)

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Aug 10, 2012 Lisa (scarlet21) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Well, this was a bit of a plough! Nearly gave up on it but persevered and glad I plodded on! It's a tale of dark humour with a moral to it but please don't expect me to explain it! The second half was better but ploughing through the first half when there wasn't much going on was a bit of a chore; I could see it was somewhat necessary to give background to the characters and set the scene but it was not very enthralling. Once the point became obvious and the story really got going it became more...more

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Jan 08, 2013 Julieta Paradiso rated it 4 of 5 stars

When a story opens with a couple, who seem to be the monument of perfection and when she asks her husband if it’s a disgrace to be so happy and whether they should feel guilty about it… you know they’re doomed. Happiness is not a disgrace, but a grace, declares her husband. And he should have added, only he didn’t and too bad for him, that’s why you should be careful enough to avoid falling from it. Now, the question is: Can we really avoid such a thing? Once again, Iris Murdoch will place seemi...more

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Oct 01, 2012 tinne rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This novel has left me baffled. There were times when I hesitated to continue reading, for fear of what new terror Murdoch might inflict on the characters.

Of course the novel is exceptionally well written and the language she uses is rich and her dialogues sparkle with life. The characters are a tawdry lot: I could not find it in my heart to like one of them, except perhaps Hilda. Still, the harm that was done to them rattled me and leaves me feeling like it actually happened to me. That's the...more

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Sep 15, 2010 David Ireland rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: big-white-square

I read Iris Murdoch and then I wonder why I ever read anything else. Brilliant characters, fabulous set pieces. It should be an opera. The dialogue, the philosophy and the plot can be a bit clunky, but everything is forgiven because it is so dramatic and the characters so charming.

I've decided that, with Iris Murdoch, I know I’m going to love it when a) it is set in London and / or b) I have to write my own list of characters inside the front cover to keep a track of everyone.

"'Your letters were...more

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Aug 15, 2011 Sheila rated it 5 of 5 stars

As always, Iris is great. This book is about a middle class family and how they deal with each other. A bit fanciful, but that's what fiction is. I especially liked the gay couple (men). She made them seem real and not the least bit different from heterosexual couples. The ending was really good, too.

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Jun 21, 2009 Cecily rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: miscellaneous-fiction

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), Julius.

Things are intertwined from the start, but later there are strong echoes of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream when the stage is set for a (non magical) enchantment, leading to illusions of l...more 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), Julius.

Things are intertwined from the start, but later there are strong echoes of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream when the stage is set for a (non magical) enchantment, leading to illusions of love and betrayal with the metaphorical puppeteer appearing to soothe, whilst actually sowing doubts and creating scenarios.

Although the story is entirely naturalistic (rather than magical realism etc), there are occasions when some of the characters think they sense supernatural demons or ghosts, yet none of them realise the real power that is manipulating their lives.

It opens inauspiciously with a long conversation between Rupert and Hilda, which explains the back story, but which they would not be discussing in that way between themselves. However, after that it becomes a trademark Murdoch psychological novel. In some ways her protagonists are a little like the British equivalent of Woody Allen’s shrink-addicted New Yorkers, as they endlessly analyse their relationships, interconnectedness, motives etc.

The narrative slips seamlessly between pages of pure dialogue, to more descriptive passages. In some of the dialogue sections it is not always clear who is saying what, but that is actually very effective, especially when there is a large gathering, with multiple conversations and the reader is effectively eaves-hopping between them.

The book is slightly dated in places (especially early on, when Murdoch seems embarrassed about the terminology regarding Simon and Axel: “liaison”, “association”, “his friend” and there are a couple of awkward racial comments), but mostly it reads very well and would also be good for a reading group, though probably too unfashionable to be picked – unless it rose to prominence on the back of a film. You could spend ages merely on “Both you and X are wounded people. X is the more wounded because X is the more guilty and for that reason is probably the more proud.” And “Good is dull. What novelist ever succeeded in making a good man interesting?”. Fortunately this novel devotes plenty of pages to those who are not good.

I’d love to read another book about Julius, so this one must have been excellent.

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Nov 29, 2010 Jane rated it 4 of 5 stars

Here Murdoch's experimenting with over-the-top personalities may go a bit overboard. Here we have a man who possess near genius-level ability to screw up the life of some specific person, on whom he has, for whatever reason, set his sights. This is not someone who is acting out his resentment, jealousy or what have you, but someone who insinuates himself into a specific life, and manipulates its details in order to create delusion and catastrophe for his unlucky target. He even burglarizes them,...more

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Jul 16, 2010 Susan added it

In a dark comedy of errors, Iris Murdoch portrays the mischief wrought by Julius, a cynical intellectual who decides to demonstrate how easily loving couples, caring friends, and devoted siblings can betray their loyalties. The subjects of his Machiavellian experiment include the high-minded, happily married couple Hilda and Rupert Foster; Peter, their college dropout son; Morgan, Hilda's sister and Julius's former mistress; and Rupert's younger brother, Simon, who lives with Axel, an older man....more

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Dec 01, 2008 Nancy rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book motivated me to post, something I haven't done in too longIt's addictive, almost a little soap opera-ish, but has such great themes and Murdoch's luscious writing. You find yourself swooning for the lifestyle of this comfy British couple, while having contempt for them and their pseudo-liberal ways of talking to each other and viewing the have-nots. In the end, there is justice, but not the kind anyone deserves. Made me want to drink lots of alcohol, in the way Mad Men does, but at the...more

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Oct 24, 2010 Nitya Mathew rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 take all the "darlings" and italics being thrown about. Do Brit men really talk like that? And some of the detours she took seemed very irrelevant—while I normally enjoy such interruptions in the story...more

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Nov 06, 2012 Danielle McClellan rated it 3 of 5 stars

I have picked up and put down so many Iris Murdoch novels that it is a wonder that I actually got through this one. So many of my friends and other respected readers love Murdoch, and I do see why they do. Her novels are novels of ideas and she allows herself room to explore the big questions. But, I just cannot get past the wooden quality of her characters and her clunky, clunkity plots. Or her women, who seem to be either hysterical or earth mamas. Or her ideas of masculinity which point towar...more

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May 10, 2010 Kenneth rated it 4 of 5 stars

A finely weaved story of fidelity, trust, self-deception and tragedy. Murdoch is insanely humorous yet disturbingly dark in putting to doubt the comfortable belief in a lifelong commitment, like in marriage. It takes a while at the start for the story to heat up, but once it takes off the book proves to be hard to put down. One hopes the cunning and deceitful Julius King is purely fictional, but a nagging touch with reality shows otherwise. Can there be a lifelong commitment? If there is, then,...more

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May 09, 2013 Shennety rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: english-writer, favorite

Представьте себе картину семейной идиллии: теплый вечер где-то на юге Лондона, в воздухе стоит приятный, немного пьянящий запах роз, любящие супруги, Руперт и Хильда, готовятся к приходу гостей(Саймона и его возлюбленного, Акселя), чтобы отпраздновать приятное событие – двадцатую годовщину их счастливой семейной жизни.

«Супруги красиво смотрелись вместе. Всегда готовые помочь другим, они и себе не отказывали в тратах на удовольствия. Последним, все еще ощущаемым как новинка, приобретением был не

...more

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Jan 20, 2013 Saura rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: glbt, adult-fiction, general-fiction

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 partner in a heartbeat if the situation was right enough.

The characters in this book aren't likeable. We have Robert and his wife Hilda, Robert's brother Simon and Simon's partner and Robert's old f...more

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Dec 25, 2010 Kathryn rated it 4 of 5 stars

Not a good book to finish on Christmas Eve! Murdoch's skewers her seemingly moral and appealing characters with terrifying and demoralizing results. For a book that includes references to the Holocaust, Murdoch still makes a convincing argument that there is no greater evil than human vanity. I imagine that Julius, having experienced the worst of human cruelty and justifiably cynical, is moved to upend the comfortable and selfsatisfied lives of his aquaintences and test their pompous easy virtue...more

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Jul 15, 2008 Ann-Marie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Ann-Marie by: Steve Swanberg gave it to me as a gift.

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The first few pages made me feel like a blind person at a play, for there was a lot of dialogue and blessed few cues of the type “he said” or “she replied” so that I felt a little lost and had to go back to reread lines and figure out which character was saying what. After the first chapter, however, I got right into it and loved it, even though I may not have completely understood it. It’s clearly a philosophical novel—I could sense that much—but not knowing anything about philosophy, I feel I...more The first few pages made me feel like a blind person at a play, for there was a lot of dialogue and blessed few cues of the type “he said” or “she replied” so that I felt a little lost and had to go back to reread lines and figure out which character was saying what. After the first chapter, however, I got right into it and loved it, even though I may not have completely understood it. It’s clearly a philosophical novel—I could sense that much—but not knowing anything about philosophy, I feel I was at a bit of a disadvantage. But maybe not; I enjoyed it immensely.

The book is divided into two parts. In part 1 she introduces us to the cast of characters, a close-knit group of friends and relatives, including Rupert and Hilda, a married couple; Hilda’s younger sister, Morgan, and Morgan’s husband, Tallis; Rupert’s younger brother, Simon, and Simon’s lover Axel; Rupert and Hilda’s son, Peter; and Rupert and Axel’s friend from university, the brilliant scientist Julian. At the beginning of the story, Morgan and Julian have both returned from America, where they had a torrid (at least on Morgan’s part) affair. Peter has moved in with Tallis after dropping out of college. So, there are various pairings within the larger group. There is a heat wave on in London, and one senses that later there will be a storm.

In part 2, Julian, who is a sort of serpent in the garden (or Iago figure; there’s a touch of Midsummer Night’s Dream about the novel, too), plays a cruel and dangerous joke on two of the characters, which has (intentionally?) devastating consequences. He is a strange, unfathomable character. A main theme of the book is communication, or the lack of it, between people who supposedly love each other. “If only I could think” is a frequent refrain spoken by the characters, and they clearly are people who put a lot of stock in thinking, and yet confusion abounds. Generally, they fail to communicate out of fear of losing something, and perhaps also out of pride. And yet there is so much to be gained—clarity, trust, and peace of mind!

A reviewer more knowledgeable about philosophy might talk about causality. Is Julian (and to a lesser extent, Morgan and Simon) to blame for the consequences of their actions (or inactions)? In any case, in the end it’s the wrong people who seem to suffer the most.
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Apr 16, 2008 Sassy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Sassy by: Andria

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. It took me a long time to read this book. I picked it up and put it down several times, which is unusual for me. The extent to which I find most British fictional characters tolerable is inversely proportionate to the age of the book. This is a relatively modern novel, set in the 1970s, so the characters were somewhat less ridiculous and insufferable to me than say, any of Austen's. They were still very British, but I enjoyed the way Murdoch acknowledged and explored that quality as being integr...more It took me a long time to read this book. I picked it up and put it down several times, which is unusual for me. The extent to which I find most British fictional characters tolerable is inversely proportionate to the age of the book. This is a relatively modern novel, set in the 1970s, so the characters were somewhat less ridiculous and insufferable to me than say, any of Austen's. They were still very British, but I enjoyed the way Murdoch acknowledged and explored that quality as being integral to the events in the novel. For example, at a very strained and awkward dinner party at which the hostess is being crushed by the belief that her beloved husband and sister are having an affair, the character Simon thinks to himself how good British people are at concealing their true feelings.

The part of this novel I am really struggling with is the identity of Julius King and, to a lesser degree, of Tallis. Julius is a wolf in sheep's clothing throughout the book. He is clearly identified as being evil through the use of common literary conventions; he is a spiritual vampire or a devil. For that reason, the revelation of his concealed Jewishness disturbs me. The fact that his parents converted to Christianity and changed their name from Khan to King seems to further the wolf in sheep's clothing motif in a whole new disturbing way. The fact that he found their conversion unaccceptable and broke off ties with them takes it even further. And the concentration camp tattoo finishes the whole thing off. What is Murdoch saying?? Am I wrong to read this as antisemitism?

It seems like there is the strongly implied idea that Tallis and Julius embody good vs. evil, yet it seems to be only Julius who is aware of this. He speaks to Tallis as if he is a true Christ figure, almost mythically so, but Tallis does not pick up on or respond to this. Is Julius delusional? He speaks of his relationship to Tallis as if they exist on an epic plane. And why does he behave so kindly toward tallis in the end?

I think the best part of this book, and the most devastatingly accurate, is the unfolding of Rupert and Morgan's "affair." The description of Rupert and Hilda's marriage and the ways in which it is destroyed by the proliferation of white lies is dead on, and Morgan and Rupert both behave as ridiculously as most people would.

It also bothers me that we never have direct contact with Hilda after Rupert's death. We only know some details of her new life through tallis's thoughts on her letters and the conversation between Simon and Axel. This feels like a cop-out to me, since Hilda is the character who is the most innocent but has also lost the most.
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Apr 14, 2008 Xio rated it 4 of 5 stars

I am through Part One of this novel and am not afraid to admit-- without having read the introduction -- being currently infatuated with a character in the book, Julius.

O Julius! I swoon each time you diagnose humanity as being filled with self serving illusions! I adore Iris' manner of describing you with Elizabethan (that's Taylor not some useless queen) Violet eyes that gleam with irrepressible delight. (well I'm mashing things together but that's my privilege. She is dead.)

As usual Lady Iris...more

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Jul 05, 2007 Eric Simpson rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Murdoch's ability to immerse the reader into the story is stunning. Her writing flows with an erudite patience, intermingling an objective third person point-of-view with profound subjective inquiry. The result of her beautiful writing is a rich and fertile text, worthy of several readings, which is why I have thoroughly enjoyed A Fairly Honorable Defeat twice, and hope to read it a third time soon.

There are many levels to Murdoch's work, and like Dostoevsky, philosophy is just one of them. She...more

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Oct 01, 2011 Steve rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have to admit to a soft spot for 20th Century novels whose gay characters are not used as metaphors or killed off because the author can't think of what to do with them by the end of the book. In this book, we find a gay couple working through their problems in a very believable way.

Murdoch can lean towards the schematic in her dialogue from time to time, but even so, the ethical drive of the novel steers clear of esoteric theories and philosophical abstractions.

Love is the irrational that we...more

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Jul 22, 2008 Michelle Vivienne rated it 4 of 5 stars

It’s so dark it makes me uncomfortable. Julius, an evil intellectual, finds humanity deplorable. He thinks people idiotic to cherish their beloved “relationships” when they can so easily be dismantled. To amuse himself he decides to demonstrate how fragile relationships are within his group of high society “friends” by setting up traps of misunderstanding which result in countless betrayals. He proves that given the right circumstances most will selfishly act outside of their lover’s interest so...more

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Sep 14, 2012 Jan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: classics, fiction, philosophy

Still getting accustomed to Murdoch's writing, I found this book compelling and hard to put down. I read until 2 in the morning because I needed to know what would finally happen to the characters. I felt like I knew the gay couple already, and related to the married couple until they got into philosophical trouble. Her prose is seamless, characters well developed yet unusual. Her philosophical perspective is intriguing to me. This is mature, thoughtful reading.

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Jun 13, 2011 May added it

Shelves: fiction-frivolous

This book came from box experiment two. I think it would make an excellent play or movie, though I'm not convinced it would sync with today's audience. The characters are very well developed and the ending has an interesting enough twist to capture one's fancy. I enjoyed reading it and seeing how people thought of friendships only a few decades back and how the male female interaction and the institution of marriage differed so much.

However, I think the idea of a wife loving her friend as much...more

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Mar 02, 2013 Marthine rated it 5 of 5 stars

When you read this, you feel the inexorable drive of the novel toward its inevitable conclusion, and you mentally beg the author to relent just a little, to allow the decent folks some breathing room, to not let what you know is going to happen, happen. And then it does. And then, if you're me, you break down sobbing in a weird library at CERN and no-one even speaks English there and it's really cold and miserable. Life sucks at the end of this novel, and you have to dredge yourself back up from...more

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About Iris Murdoch

Dame Jean Iris Murdoch

Irish-born British writer, university lecturer and prolific and highly professional novelist, Iris Murdoch dealt with everyday ethical or moral issues, sometimes in the light of myths. As a writer, she was a perfectionist who did not allow editors to change her text. Murdoch produced 26 novels in 40 years, the last written while she was suffering from Alzheimer disease.

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