David Schwinghammer's Blog - Posts Tagged "homosexuality"
The Bell
I had read in several places that Iris Murdoch was one of our better short story writers, but when I looked all I could find were novels. And so I chose THE BELL, not a wise choice.
I also read in her bio that she had been a philosophy professor at Oxford for many years. Oh, boy, I'm in for some solid theorizing about the human psyche. No such luck, unless you consider religion an intriguing topic.
The story starts with Dora Greenfield joining her husband Paul at an Anglican lay community attached to a convent, where the nuns sound like the Poor Claires. They never come out of the abbey. Paul, Dora's former art teacher, is studying a fourteenth century manuscript at the convent. At one point he tells her, “I love you, but I don't respect you.” She doesn't respect herself much either, or she wouldn't put up with that.
Michael Meade is the other major character. He is the head of the lay community, but for years he has been struggling with his homosexuality. He thinks he's got it under control. He's never really acted on this predilection, but he's come close with Nick Fawkes, a former student, who turned him in for holding hands. At least that's all he ever admitted to. Nick is at the lay community to be with his twin sister, Catherine, who is joining the nunnery. For some insane reason he is given a roommate, Toby, an eighteen-year-old, who's just there to check the place out before attending his first year of college. But it's Michael who gives in to his urges after he and Toby spend the afternoon together. He gives in to an impulse to kiss Toby, and Toby, who hasn't had any experience with either sex, is confused. He thinks about all the women he knows and how he feels about them. Catherine is too cold; he settles on Dora; she turns him on. Then he goes swimming one day and finds the ancient convent bell, mired in the muck. The convent has invested in a new bell and there's an installation ceremony coming up. Dora wants to pull a switch and be given credit for pulling off a sort of miracle.
Okay, so this novel is about how even religious characters struggle with their foibles. No big surprise there, eh? But Murdoch knows she's got to pull a twist here and there. Events don't turn out as planned. There's a suicide and a near suicide. The ending just fades away. Things are looking up for Dora, but Michael tells her she should go back to her husband eventually. No way, Jose. If these were real people, I would hope she'd never do that. Will this community survive? The question I had was “What the heck was the bell doing in the lake in the first place?” Murdoch mentions a legend, but it impressed me so much I don't remember what it was, and there's no way I'm going through 296 pages of small print to find it.
Almost forgot, there's an introduction by A.S. Byatt, the Booker Prize winner. Don't read it. It's esoteric. This book was published in 1958. There are indications that Murdoch may have been religious herself, so that might explain why she cares about a group of lay Anglicans connected to a convent. I didn't care about any of them, beyond being fellow humans, that is.
I also read in her bio that she had been a philosophy professor at Oxford for many years. Oh, boy, I'm in for some solid theorizing about the human psyche. No such luck, unless you consider religion an intriguing topic.
The story starts with Dora Greenfield joining her husband Paul at an Anglican lay community attached to a convent, where the nuns sound like the Poor Claires. They never come out of the abbey. Paul, Dora's former art teacher, is studying a fourteenth century manuscript at the convent. At one point he tells her, “I love you, but I don't respect you.” She doesn't respect herself much either, or she wouldn't put up with that.
Michael Meade is the other major character. He is the head of the lay community, but for years he has been struggling with his homosexuality. He thinks he's got it under control. He's never really acted on this predilection, but he's come close with Nick Fawkes, a former student, who turned him in for holding hands. At least that's all he ever admitted to. Nick is at the lay community to be with his twin sister, Catherine, who is joining the nunnery. For some insane reason he is given a roommate, Toby, an eighteen-year-old, who's just there to check the place out before attending his first year of college. But it's Michael who gives in to his urges after he and Toby spend the afternoon together. He gives in to an impulse to kiss Toby, and Toby, who hasn't had any experience with either sex, is confused. He thinks about all the women he knows and how he feels about them. Catherine is too cold; he settles on Dora; she turns him on. Then he goes swimming one day and finds the ancient convent bell, mired in the muck. The convent has invested in a new bell and there's an installation ceremony coming up. Dora wants to pull a switch and be given credit for pulling off a sort of miracle.
Okay, so this novel is about how even religious characters struggle with their foibles. No big surprise there, eh? But Murdoch knows she's got to pull a twist here and there. Events don't turn out as planned. There's a suicide and a near suicide. The ending just fades away. Things are looking up for Dora, but Michael tells her she should go back to her husband eventually. No way, Jose. If these were real people, I would hope she'd never do that. Will this community survive? The question I had was “What the heck was the bell doing in the lake in the first place?” Murdoch mentions a legend, but it impressed me so much I don't remember what it was, and there's no way I'm going through 296 pages of small print to find it.
Almost forgot, there's an introduction by A.S. Byatt, the Booker Prize winner. Don't read it. It's esoteric. This book was published in 1958. There are indications that Murdoch may have been religious herself, so that might explain why she cares about a group of lay Anglicans connected to a convent. I didn't care about any of them, beyond being fellow humans, that is.
