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The Italian Girl
Edmund has escaped from his family into a lonely life. Returning for his mother's funeral he rediscovers the eternal family servant, the ever-changing Italian girl, who was always "a second mother."
215 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1964
177 people are currently reading
2297 people want to read
About the author
Iris Murdoch
142 books2,548 followersDame 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.
"She wanted, through her novels, to reach all possible readers, in different ways and by different means: by the excitement of her story, its pace and its comedy, through its ideas and its philosophical implications, through the numinous atmosphere of her own original and created world--the world she must have glimpsed as she considered and planned her first steps in the art of fiction." (John Bayley in Elegy for Iris, 1998)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iris_Mur...
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.
"She wanted, through her novels, to reach all possible readers, in different ways and by different means: by the excitement of her story, its pace and its comedy, through its ideas and its philosophical implications, through the numinous atmosphere of her own original and created world--the world she must have glimpsed as she considered and planned her first steps in the art of fiction." (John Bayley in Elegy for Iris, 1998)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iris_Mur...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 356 reviews
August 24, 2021
SI VEDRÀ. NON AVERE PAURA
Sulla copertina il ritratto di Wally di Egon Schiele.
Un classico topos letterario, e forse ancor più cinematografico: il ritorno a casa.
Non occorre che si tratti di figliol prodigo.
Di solito è il ritorno di un figlio, maschio o femmina che sia, che a contatto con la sua famiglia d’origine riannoda fili, porta nodi al pettine, accende micce.
La distanza, sia geografica che temporale, del distacco sembra annullarsi non appena si rimette piede in casa, si rientra in contatto con fratelli, sorelle, genitori, parenti.
Parenti serpenti, diceva Mario Monicelli: che di covi di serpi si intendeva bene.
Edmund torna a casa per il funerale dell’anziana madre. La donna deceduta è stata dispotica, autoritaria. Ma ora non c’è più.
Edmund vorrebbe fermarsi solo qualche ora, invece rimane più a lungo.
La ragazza italiana del titolo è la cameriera e ora che l’anziana è morta non ha più motivo di restare.
In lei Edmund vede qualcosa che stava cercando. O, forse, lo ritrova.
La meta a questo punto è comune, Roma.
La voce narrante è quella di Edmund attraverso la quale Murdoch alterna piacevoli dialoghi a belle descrizioni.
Nel testo, anche qualche rara, sparsa parola in italiano, distinta in corsivo.
Roma che affiora nel finale come obiettivo: ho letto questo romanzo nei miei primi giorni romani, l’inizio di un lungo periodo ancora non concluso.
Un pensiero che è una constatazione senza nulla di critica: questa eccellente scrittrice inglese è stata tradotta e pubblicata, ma ora delle sue opere ne sono rimaste accessibili ben poche. Ristamparla? Purtroppo, dato il molto relativo successo delle prime edizioni, le nuove vendite non giustificherebbero l’investimento. E quindi ce la stiamo perdendo. Sigh.
Sulla copertina il ritratto di Wally di Egon Schiele.
Un classico topos letterario, e forse ancor più cinematografico: il ritorno a casa.
Non occorre che si tratti di figliol prodigo.
Di solito è il ritorno di un figlio, maschio o femmina che sia, che a contatto con la sua famiglia d’origine riannoda fili, porta nodi al pettine, accende micce.
La distanza, sia geografica che temporale, del distacco sembra annullarsi non appena si rimette piede in casa, si rientra in contatto con fratelli, sorelle, genitori, parenti.
Parenti serpenti, diceva Mario Monicelli: che di covi di serpi si intendeva bene.
Edmund torna a casa per il funerale dell’anziana madre. La donna deceduta è stata dispotica, autoritaria. Ma ora non c’è più.
Edmund vorrebbe fermarsi solo qualche ora, invece rimane più a lungo.
La ragazza italiana del titolo è la cameriera e ora che l’anziana è morta non ha più motivo di restare.
In lei Edmund vede qualcosa che stava cercando. O, forse, lo ritrova.
La meta a questo punto è comune, Roma.
La voce narrante è quella di Edmund attraverso la quale Murdoch alterna piacevoli dialoghi a belle descrizioni.
Nel testo, anche qualche rara, sparsa parola in italiano, distinta in corsivo.
Roma che affiora nel finale come obiettivo: ho letto questo romanzo nei miei primi giorni romani, l’inizio di un lungo periodo ancora non concluso.
Un pensiero che è una constatazione senza nulla di critica: questa eccellente scrittrice inglese è stata tradotta e pubblicata, ma ora delle sue opere ne sono rimaste accessibili ben poche. Ristamparla? Purtroppo, dato il molto relativo successo delle prime edizioni, le nuove vendite non giustificherebbero l’investimento. E quindi ce la stiamo perdendo. Sigh.
February 21, 2017
I read this a few weeks back and it still lingers in my mind. I very seldom come back and change a rating but did for this one, upped it a star because there is so much going on, so much meaning that reveals itself the more one thinks about this novella.
Edmund reruns home after the death of his manipulative and controlling mother. A mother he had escaped many years ago. He find things much changed, his niece Flora no longer a small child but now seventeen and his brother Otto and his wife, now estranged. He becomes the vessel for their many secrets and shared confidences. Otto's protégé or assistant and his sister much involved in the drama this family is experiencing. A kind of Freudian knot that will take a death to untangle.
It has been many, many years since I have read Murdoch, this is one of her earliest books and is more dramatic than I remember her books as being. This does serve a purpose though because it highlights the total disarray their, lives had become and the death of one is used as a reset, the impetus needed for them to come to their senses. Was puzzled by the title because the Italian girl, which Edmund notes there had been a succession of taking care of him and his brother Otto as they were growing up, stays mostly in the background until virtually the end. Here she plays an important part.
So a bit dramatic but enjoyed the way this was written. Provided much thought after books end.
Edmund reruns home after the death of his manipulative and controlling mother. A mother he had escaped many years ago. He find things much changed, his niece Flora no longer a small child but now seventeen and his brother Otto and his wife, now estranged. He becomes the vessel for their many secrets and shared confidences. Otto's protégé or assistant and his sister much involved in the drama this family is experiencing. A kind of Freudian knot that will take a death to untangle.
It has been many, many years since I have read Murdoch, this is one of her earliest books and is more dramatic than I remember her books as being. This does serve a purpose though because it highlights the total disarray their, lives had become and the death of one is used as a reset, the impetus needed for them to come to their senses. Was puzzled by the title because the Italian girl, which Edmund notes there had been a succession of taking care of him and his brother Otto as they were growing up, stays mostly in the background until virtually the end. Here she plays an important part.
So a bit dramatic but enjoyed the way this was written. Provided much thought after books end.
December 12, 2020
Delicious drama, as with all Murdoch, with hilarious running jokes and a plot that keeps folding complexities onto itself - but it is too short, too single location, and has a strangely limited perspective, with a lead character who seems to be skipping describing things, running through a sequence of half-seen locales, describing music in dialogue that is never established in prose. One for the completionists.
May 23, 2017
What is the term equivalent to "white trash" for the Brits? Well, I don't know, but here is a menagerie rife with those interesting, yet devastatingly bleak individuals--they are all mad--they've all taken X. "Beauty is such self-forgetting" (47) indeed--and this is a brilliant and breathtaking family portrait, so very post-Victorian Jerry Springer filthiness! First off, the strongly redolent, very judgmental narrator (and weakling) Edmund becomes immediately attractive to any reader who often ventures out of a definite comfort zone to stray off into the world's dark undercarriage. And the plot: He finds himself in a mad dream inhabited by imps: by more doubles and doppelgangers any possible reader could possibly want. The protagonist, like the reader himself, is faced with too much information too soon to possibly fit all too neatly in his restricted view and awestruck mind... He must work out all the cogs in the machine before the orchestra fully unfurls before him. Lastly, the pace is ominous and foreboding--all of it frosting in an evenly-frosted delicious morsel. (Respect the gods of the almighty novella!) It arrives from the same stratosphere of the macabre as American Hawthorne's "The Blithedale Romance."
There is a commendable and dire need to be anti-Victorian with the superb Murdoch. It's vile and cool in equal measure. The erotic siblings, the not-too discreet lovers, all vicious and dripping in sex...well, it is all one huge cochinada (pigstyish) maelstrom!
There is a commendable and dire need to be anti-Victorian with the superb Murdoch. It's vile and cool in equal measure. The erotic siblings, the not-too discreet lovers, all vicious and dripping in sex...well, it is all one huge cochinada (pigstyish) maelstrom!
May 26, 2017
Notes to self
1. Read a book a couple of weeks ago. Turned out it was about Alzheimer’s.
2. Cannot remember the title or story of note #1.
3. Read another book last week. Turned out it had a character who suffered dementia.
4. Cannot remember that title or story either, of note #3
5. Current author developed Alzheimer’s.
Review
A short and absorbing tale that takes place in Northern England.
Murdoch was an established and honored and prolific author. She wrote beautifully. And is now dead.
This story is told by a solitary, 30-40’ish year old man, who is not aware of what he does not have, but carries a sense of emptiness.
He reestablishes a relationship with his brother and his brother’s dysfunctional household. It is to be a temporary visit. Their mother, despised by both sons, has died, and the story begins at the funeral for the mother.
A beautiful and realistic account that pushes all the right buttons for this reader. Philosophy, irony, miscommunications between its characters, love, reflection, redemption, loss, interesting dialogue, empathy or lack of, compromise, some angst and tension, trials between family members, the intrusion of outsiders, the casual assaults by youth, and more.
Recommended for we who acknowledge our fractured lives.
Any further questions will not be answered by this reader, who will have forgotten the story, momentarily.
1. Read a book a couple of weeks ago. Turned out it was about Alzheimer’s.
2. Cannot remember the title or story of note #1.
3. Read another book last week. Turned out it had a character who suffered dementia.
4. Cannot remember that title or story either, of note #3
5. Current author developed Alzheimer’s.
Review
A short and absorbing tale that takes place in Northern England.
Murdoch was an established and honored and prolific author. She wrote beautifully. And is now dead.
This story is told by a solitary, 30-40’ish year old man, who is not aware of what he does not have, but carries a sense of emptiness.
He reestablishes a relationship with his brother and his brother’s dysfunctional household. It is to be a temporary visit. Their mother, despised by both sons, has died, and the story begins at the funeral for the mother.
A beautiful and realistic account that pushes all the right buttons for this reader. Philosophy, irony, miscommunications between its characters, love, reflection, redemption, loss, interesting dialogue, empathy or lack of, compromise, some angst and tension, trials between family members, the intrusion of outsiders, the casual assaults by youth, and more.
Recommended for we who acknowledge our fractured lives.
Any further questions will not be answered by this reader, who will have forgotten the story, momentarily.
July 14, 2015
At 171 pages, this practically a novella, but it packs a lot of emotion into those pages, and although it's an early work, it is very clearly an Iris Murdoch, albeit less subtle than later works.
Edmund returns to his childhood home after the death of his manipulative and estranged mother. His brother Otto, an alcoholic, lives there with his wife, daughter and the eponymous Italian girl (an au pair who stayed on), none of whom he has seen for years. His brother is a "half-stranger" and he can't remember how old his niece is, but such detachment started earlier, "My father had passed from us almost unnoticed, we believed in his death long before it came".
These five character, plus another two, have multiple and complex relationships and neurosis that they discuss, without much hope of overcoming. They have all missed out on happiness in some way, and so they seem destined to sabotage the possibility of it in their own lives and those of others. Despite his introspection, Edmund distrusts psychiatrists, describing them as "modern necromancers" and saying "I preferred to suffer the thing that I was".
There are two further characters. The house itself has dark qualities, made clear from the start when Edmund arrives so late that the house is dark, everyone is asleep and it has a haunted atmosphere: "The closed doors breathed a stupefaction of slumber". Lydia, the dead mother, continues to be a major force on the lives of all therein.
The plot twists, turns, tangles and the Italian girl is in the background till the end. Some aspects are a little dated (fair enough) or stretch credulity, but it's a good story and well told.
Having attended a couple of humanist funerals lately, I was particularly struck by this passage: "At least a Christian burial would with ancient images and emotions have covered up this moment of blankness and lent to that querulous frailty the dignity and sadness of general mortality."
If Woody Allen hasn't read any Murdoch, he really should. They have much in common.
Edmund returns to his childhood home after the death of his manipulative and estranged mother. His brother Otto, an alcoholic, lives there with his wife, daughter and the eponymous Italian girl (an au pair who stayed on), none of whom he has seen for years. His brother is a "half-stranger" and he can't remember how old his niece is, but such detachment started earlier, "My father had passed from us almost unnoticed, we believed in his death long before it came".
These five character, plus another two, have multiple and complex relationships and neurosis that they discuss, without much hope of overcoming. They have all missed out on happiness in some way, and so they seem destined to sabotage the possibility of it in their own lives and those of others. Despite his introspection, Edmund distrusts psychiatrists, describing them as "modern necromancers" and saying "I preferred to suffer the thing that I was".
There are two further characters. The house itself has dark qualities, made clear from the start when Edmund arrives so late that the house is dark, everyone is asleep and it has a haunted atmosphere: "The closed doors breathed a stupefaction of slumber". Lydia, the dead mother, continues to be a major force on the lives of all therein.
The plot twists, turns, tangles and the Italian girl is in the background till the end. Some aspects are a little dated (fair enough) or stretch credulity, but it's a good story and well told.
Having attended a couple of humanist funerals lately, I was particularly struck by this passage: "At least a Christian burial would with ancient images and emotions have covered up this moment of blankness and lent to that querulous frailty the dignity and sadness of general mortality."
If Woody Allen hasn't read any Murdoch, he really should. They have much in common.
March 13, 2023
#The Irish Readathon
Sempre achei que iria gostar de Iris Murdoch, razão pela qual tinha quatro livros da autora sem nunca me ter sequer estreado nas suas letras. Não me enganei, a nível frásico é extraordinária.
Of course I had never escaped from Lydia. Lydia had got inside me, into the depths of my being, ther was no abyss and no darkness where she was not. She was my self-contempt.
Já a nível de enredo, este livro é uma salgalhada sem pés nem cabeça. “The Italian Girl” pareceu-me uma farsa cujo argumento foi escrito em cima do joelho, apesar de alguns diálogos bem conseguidos, e com os piores actores que havia nos arredores. Há Edmund, o irmão recalcado que volta para o funeral de Lydia, a mãe dominadora; Otto; o canastrão bêbedo e irascível; Isabel, a sua neurótica mulher; Flora, a bonita adolescente histérica; e finalmente a dita “rapariga italiana”, a antiga ama dos dois rapazes, que surge apenas como personagem secundária até ao último terço da obra. Fora do núcleo familiar, para tornar as relações ainda mais tensas, para elevar o dramatismo aos píncaros, surge um casal sedutor de irmãos russos: Elsa e David.
A narrativa de todo este livro é uma sucessão de apoteóticas entradas em cena e melodramáticas saídas de cena, após breves momentos de representação histriónica, abordando-se de passagem temas como o aborto e o exílio.
Her face was a yellowish white and narrowed. Shrunk already away from life, altogether smaller. But her long hair which had been bronze once, now a dark brown striped with grey, seemed vital still, as if the terrible news had yet come to it. (...) Her dead face had an expression which I had known upon it in life, a sort of soft crazed expression, like a Grünewald Saint John, a look of elated madness and suffering.
Sempre achei que iria gostar de Iris Murdoch, razão pela qual tinha quatro livros da autora sem nunca me ter sequer estreado nas suas letras. Não me enganei, a nível frásico é extraordinária.
Of course I had never escaped from Lydia. Lydia had got inside me, into the depths of my being, ther was no abyss and no darkness where she was not. She was my self-contempt.
Já a nível de enredo, este livro é uma salgalhada sem pés nem cabeça. “The Italian Girl” pareceu-me uma farsa cujo argumento foi escrito em cima do joelho, apesar de alguns diálogos bem conseguidos, e com os piores actores que havia nos arredores. Há Edmund, o irmão recalcado que volta para o funeral de Lydia, a mãe dominadora; Otto; o canastrão bêbedo e irascível; Isabel, a sua neurótica mulher; Flora, a bonita adolescente histérica; e finalmente a dita “rapariga italiana”, a antiga ama dos dois rapazes, que surge apenas como personagem secundária até ao último terço da obra. Fora do núcleo familiar, para tornar as relações ainda mais tensas, para elevar o dramatismo aos píncaros, surge um casal sedutor de irmãos russos: Elsa e David.
A narrativa de todo este livro é uma sucessão de apoteóticas entradas em cena e melodramáticas saídas de cena, após breves momentos de representação histriónica, abordando-se de passagem temas como o aborto e o exílio.
Her face was a yellowish white and narrowed. Shrunk already away from life, altogether smaller. But her long hair which had been bronze once, now a dark brown striped with grey, seemed vital still, as if the terrible news had yet come to it. (...) Her dead face had an expression which I had known upon it in life, a sort of soft crazed expression, like a Grünewald Saint John, a look of elated madness and suffering.
December 22, 2025
The Italian Girl: A Fairy Tale. Set in an Enchanted Northern Castle, Edmund from the South arrives to break the Spell. A drunken King, a miserable Queen, and a Princess in trouble. An Enchantress has mermerized the King, and the Jester has done more than merely amuse the Queen. Can Edmund manage to dismount his High Horse, and break the Spell cast by the Old Queen before her Death?
The thinnest of Iris Murdoch's books, and about as subtle as a brick to the face. While I enjoy a strong dose of melodrama, this one is practically soap opera. House fires, pregnancies, and controversial inheritances—all that's missing is amnesia and someone back from the dead. It is one of Murdoch's small handful of novels narrated in the first person, and the narrator of this one, although more palatable than A Severed Head's Martin Lynch-Gibbon, is equally horny. Where Martin the horny narrator acts on every desire, to my irritation, Edmund the horny narrator represses his lust, which makes him act all self-righteous and creepy for a stretch—to my irritation. Otto's telephone dreams are as entertaining as his eating habits, and I enjoyed the artistry behind his profession. Lydia and the Italian girl—just what was the extent of their relationship? Reminded me of Reflections in a Golden Eye, published twenty years earlier.
The thinnest of Iris Murdoch's books, and about as subtle as a brick to the face. While I enjoy a strong dose of melodrama, this one is practically soap opera. House fires, pregnancies, and controversial inheritances—all that's missing is amnesia and someone back from the dead. It is one of Murdoch's small handful of novels narrated in the first person, and the narrator of this one, although more palatable than A Severed Head's Martin Lynch-Gibbon, is equally horny. Where Martin the horny narrator acts on every desire, to my irritation, Edmund the horny narrator represses his lust, which makes him act all self-righteous and creepy for a stretch—to my irritation. Otto's telephone dreams are as entertaining as his eating habits, and I enjoyed the artistry behind his profession. Lydia and the Italian girl—just what was the extent of their relationship? Reminded me of Reflections in a Golden Eye, published twenty years earlier.
September 17, 2024
“You know as well as I do that one can be imprisoned in one’s mind.”
This is pretty much a novella at about 170 pages and was published in 1964. It seems to me quite typical Murdoch (having read a few). Creating a group of unlikeable characters and moving them around like pieces on a chessboard.
Edmund Narraway is the narrator. His mother, Lydia, has just died and he has to return to the family home (quite a large one, with grounds, of course). Here resides his brother Otto and Isabel, Otto’s wife. Also present are Flora (Otto and Isabel’s daughter), Maria (basically a cook/housekeeper, the Italian Girl), David (Otto’s apprentice/help, Otto is a sculptor of sorts) and Elsa (David’s sister). Edmund has not been home for quite some time as he had fallen out with his mother:
“I had no craving for luxuries and never had had, but I did not honour poverty for its own sake and disliked its indignities and inconveniences. I lived a solitary life.”
Everybody appears to be having sex with everyone else (apart from Edmund and Maria) and as always with Murdoch (being a philosopher) agency is important and it all revolves around Maria, even though that does not become obvious until late in the novel. Murdoch also knows how to write an aphorism and as this is about a death, there are plenty of reflections about it:
‘It is not punishment, it’s acceptance of death that alters the soul, that is God’.
There are plenty of thoughts on death, but another theme is hedonism as opposed to the ethical life (here neither are particularly appealing).
It’s all a bit gothic and melodramatic and that makes this rather far-fetched. Not my favourite Murdoch, and the fairy tale element (enchanted woods and all that) didn’t work for me either.
This is pretty much a novella at about 170 pages and was published in 1964. It seems to me quite typical Murdoch (having read a few). Creating a group of unlikeable characters and moving them around like pieces on a chessboard.
Edmund Narraway is the narrator. His mother, Lydia, has just died and he has to return to the family home (quite a large one, with grounds, of course). Here resides his brother Otto and Isabel, Otto’s wife. Also present are Flora (Otto and Isabel’s daughter), Maria (basically a cook/housekeeper, the Italian Girl), David (Otto’s apprentice/help, Otto is a sculptor of sorts) and Elsa (David’s sister). Edmund has not been home for quite some time as he had fallen out with his mother:
“I had no craving for luxuries and never had had, but I did not honour poverty for its own sake and disliked its indignities and inconveniences. I lived a solitary life.”
Everybody appears to be having sex with everyone else (apart from Edmund and Maria) and as always with Murdoch (being a philosopher) agency is important and it all revolves around Maria, even though that does not become obvious until late in the novel. Murdoch also knows how to write an aphorism and as this is about a death, there are plenty of reflections about it:
‘It is not punishment, it’s acceptance of death that alters the soul, that is God’.
There are plenty of thoughts on death, but another theme is hedonism as opposed to the ethical life (here neither are particularly appealing).
It’s all a bit gothic and melodramatic and that makes this rather far-fetched. Not my favourite Murdoch, and the fairy tale element (enchanted woods and all that) didn’t work for me either.
May 16, 2021
رواية لا بأس بها، الحبكة مجرد سلسلة من اللقاءات المثيرة للشفقة مع بعضها البعض. كنت اعتقد أني سأقرأ رواية عميقة بسبب شهرة الكاتبة، إلا أني لم أجد فيها أي قيمة أدبية على الإطلاق. سأحاول أن أقرأ لها رواية أخرى.
اقتباسات
“هناك ـ على ما افترض ـ أسباب كثيرة تدعو النساء الشقيّات دائمًا إلى احتمال الشيطان الذي يعرفنه بدلًا من البحث عن شيطان آخر”.
“الجمال قادر على نسيان الذات”.
؛يقول أحد الفلاسفة أن جريمتنا العظمى هي أن نتجاهل ما في الدنيا من جمال”.
“السَّهم في الجنب يجعل السفر مؤلمًا، غير أن عدم الجري يسبِّب ألمًا أسوأ”.
“لا جدال مع ما استقرّ في قرارة قلب الإنسان. لا يستطيع كل إنسان أن يحصل على هذا الشيء؛ الحريّة. وألّا يتحطّم بها. إنها طريق في اتجاه واحد للحياة”.
“من الأفضل أن تفعل الشيء الخطأ لأسباب صحيحة من أن تفعل الشيء الصحيح لأسباب خاطئة”.
اقتباسات
“هناك ـ على ما افترض ـ أسباب كثيرة تدعو النساء الشقيّات دائمًا إلى احتمال الشيطان الذي يعرفنه بدلًا من البحث عن شيطان آخر”.
“الجمال قادر على نسيان الذات”.
؛يقول أحد الفلاسفة أن جريمتنا العظمى هي أن نتجاهل ما في الدنيا من جمال”.
“السَّهم في الجنب يجعل السفر مؤلمًا، غير أن عدم الجري يسبِّب ألمًا أسوأ”.
“لا جدال مع ما استقرّ في قرارة قلب الإنسان. لا يستطيع كل إنسان أن يحصل على هذا الشيء؛ الحريّة. وألّا يتحطّم بها. إنها طريق في اتجاه واحد للحياة”.
“من الأفضل أن تفعل الشيء الخطأ لأسباب صحيحة من أن تفعل الشيء الصحيح لأسباب خاطئة”.
November 16, 2024
„Италианското момиче“, Айрис Мърдок, изд. „Рива“, превод Иглика Василева.
В края на натоварената седмица реших да посегна към някоя по-тънка книжка, но не можех да предположа каква вселена се крие в творчеството на Мърдок.
Смятам, че е редно да обърна внимание на личността на Айрис. Тя е високо ценена английска писателка и философка (1919–1999), известна със своите многобройни романи и философски трудове в областта на екзистенциализма. Интересна личност с ирландски произход, тя оставя значително наследство в литературата и философията. Литературната общност създава в нейна чест награда, която се присъжда за изключителни литературни произведения или изследвания върху творчеството на Мърдок, като акцентът е върху иновативни и оригинални подходи.
1. **Iris Murdoch Award for Research** – Награда, която може да бъде присъдена за академични изследвания, свързани с творчеството и философските идеи на Мърдок.
2. **Iris Murdoch Prize for Fiction** – Присъжда се на автори на художествена литература, които демонстрират дълбочина и стил, характерни за писането на Мърдок.
В допълнение, различни университети и институции, занимаващи се с литература и философия, също организират събития и конкурси, посветени на нея.
След всичко това ще разкажа накратко за книгата. „Италианското момиче“ започва със завръщането на Едмънд в родния му дом за погребението на майка му, всъщност Линда, защото тя не е обичала да бъде наричана „мама“. В тази кратка, но изключително наситена книга, с всяка следваща страница Мърдок ни потапя все по-дълбоко в историята на семейството на Едмънд, останало да живее в къщата. В същото време авторката поставя множество теми, свързани със семейството, сексуалността, антисемитизма и още много други въпроси. Действието се развива със специфичен ритъм, а богатата проза на Мърдок издига преживяването на различно ниво, като умело вгражда елементи на приказно и дори магическо повествование.
Ако харесвате силна доза семейна мелодрама, този прекрасен роман, с толкова сложни персонажи, които живеят в реалност, показана сякаш през криво огледало на вещица, определено ще ви допадне. Въпреки целия хаос и разрушенията – едно погребение, една случайна смърт, безброй предателства – когато затворите книгата, остава усещане за спокойствие и удовлетворение.
Това е книга, която задължително трябва да се прочете и „преживее“. Айрис Мърдок е автор, който, докато четете, сякаш тайно успява да надникне в скритите кътчета на душата, там където старателно крием тайни дори и от самите себе си, и ги излага на показ пред нас.
Изключително тъжно е, че макар да има публикувани творби от нея на български, те явно не успяват да достигнат до по-широк кръг читатели. Надявам се творчеството ѝ да не потъне в книжната бездна.
В края на натоварената седмица реших да посегна към някоя по-тънка книжка, но не можех да предположа каква вселена се крие в творчеството на Мърдок.
Смятам, че е редно да обърна внимание на личността на Айрис. Тя е високо ценена английска писателка и философка (1919–1999), известна със своите многобройни романи и философски трудове в областта на екзистенциализма. Интересна личност с ирландски произход, тя оставя значително наследство в литературата и философията. Литературната общност създава в нейна чест награда, която се присъжда за изключителни литературни произведения или изследвания върху творчеството на Мърдок, като акцентът е върху иновативни и оригинални подходи.
1. **Iris Murdoch Award for Research** – Награда, която може да бъде присъдена за академични изследвания, свързани с творчеството и философските идеи на Мърдок.
2. **Iris Murdoch Prize for Fiction** – Присъжда се на автори на художествена литература, които демонстрират дълбочина и стил, характерни за писането на Мърдок.
В допълнение, различни университети и институции, занимаващи се с литература и философия, също организират събития и конкурси, посветени на нея.
След всичко това ще разкажа накратко за книгата. „Италианското момиче“ започва със завръщането на Едмънд в родния му дом за погребението на майка му, всъщност Линда, защото тя не е обичала да бъде наричана „мама“. В тази кратка, но изключително наситена книга, с всяка следваща страница Мърдок ни потапя все по-дълбоко в историята на семейството на Едмънд, останало да живее в къщата. В същото време авторката поставя множество теми, свързани със семейството, сексуалността, антисемитизма и още много други въпроси. Действието се развива със специфичен ритъм, а богатата проза на Мърдок издига преживяването на различно ниво, като умело вгражда елементи на приказно и дори магическо повествование.
Ако харесвате силна доза семейна мелодрама, този прекрасен роман, с толкова сложни персонажи, които живеят в реалност, показана сякаш през криво огледало на вещица, определено ще ви допадне. Въпреки целия хаос и разрушенията – едно погребение, една случайна смърт, безброй предателства – когато затворите книгата, остава усещане за спокойствие и удовлетворение.
Това е книга, която задължително трябва да се прочете и „преживее“. Айрис Мърдок е автор, който, докато четете, сякаш тайно успява да надникне в скритите кътчета на душата, там където старателно крием тайни дори и от самите себе си, и ги излага на показ пред нас.
Изключително тъжно е, че макар да има публикувани творби от нея на български, те явно не успяват да достигнат до по-широк кръг читатели. Надявам се творчеството ѝ да не потъне в книжната бездна.
November 15, 2016
This is Iris Murdoch's eighth novel. I have been reading her novels in order of publication and become quite a fan. She brings a philosophical bent to her fiction. Though the next book for me would have been The Unicorn, one of my reading groups picked this one so I set aside my OCD tendency and went with it. Some critics have considered it one of her weakest novels. I liked it just fine.
The younger son, Edmund, has come home due to the death of his mother and tells the story with wistful viewpoints of each member of the household. Lydia, the deceased mother, had been controlling and no longer interested in her husband (now deceased) once she had two sons. She was overly possessive of the boys in alternating periods. Otto, the older brother, still lives in the family home with his wife Isabel and daughter Flora, now a teenager.
In Murdoch's usual way, the details of the family come into focus like a developing photograph until you have a distressing picture of psychological disturbance and broken relationships. Edmund, no surprise, has trouble with females, never married, and is possibly still a virgin. Otto drinks, is vegetarian, and works unsuccessfully as an engraver, mostly making tombstones. He has always had criminal-type assistants who cause trouble and are then replaced.
Otto's wife, it turns out, is having an affair with the current assistant, David, who has also been sleeping with the daughter and gotten her pregnant. Otto is sleeping with David's mysterious and troubled sister. Quite a mess but this is one of Murdoch's typical families. Edmund's pathetic attempts to help these people all go awry, almost to the point of comedy. Dark comedy is another facet of Murdoch's fiction.
The title is the key to this fractured family, but you don't find out the full significance of the Italian girl until the very end. All you know until then is that the family has had a series of Italian girls as servants. These girls do all the housework, raised the boys when the mother needed a break, and served as companion to mother. The mystery of this arrangement is the big reveal at the end.
I found the novel to be one of her most exquisitely written books. Each scene is carefully drawn with lovely descriptions that create atmosphere and allow you to see ever more deeply into the characters. In fact, it was adapted for the stage by James Saunders and originally performed in 1968.
In spite of there being not a single likeable character, I felt for them all. Murdoch seems to be telling us that in any family there are secrets. Secrets of the heart due to failures to connect, unawareness of what goes on, a lack of perspective caused by the claustrophobia of family. I have found that to be true in most families I know, even the good ones.
The younger son, Edmund, has come home due to the death of his mother and tells the story with wistful viewpoints of each member of the household. Lydia, the deceased mother, had been controlling and no longer interested in her husband (now deceased) once she had two sons. She was overly possessive of the boys in alternating periods. Otto, the older brother, still lives in the family home with his wife Isabel and daughter Flora, now a teenager.
In Murdoch's usual way, the details of the family come into focus like a developing photograph until you have a distressing picture of psychological disturbance and broken relationships. Edmund, no surprise, has trouble with females, never married, and is possibly still a virgin. Otto drinks, is vegetarian, and works unsuccessfully as an engraver, mostly making tombstones. He has always had criminal-type assistants who cause trouble and are then replaced.
Otto's wife, it turns out, is having an affair with the current assistant, David, who has also been sleeping with the daughter and gotten her pregnant. Otto is sleeping with David's mysterious and troubled sister. Quite a mess but this is one of Murdoch's typical families. Edmund's pathetic attempts to help these people all go awry, almost to the point of comedy. Dark comedy is another facet of Murdoch's fiction.
The title is the key to this fractured family, but you don't find out the full significance of the Italian girl until the very end. All you know until then is that the family has had a series of Italian girls as servants. These girls do all the housework, raised the boys when the mother needed a break, and served as companion to mother. The mystery of this arrangement is the big reveal at the end.
I found the novel to be one of her most exquisitely written books. Each scene is carefully drawn with lovely descriptions that create atmosphere and allow you to see ever more deeply into the characters. In fact, it was adapted for the stage by James Saunders and originally performed in 1968.
In spite of there being not a single likeable character, I felt for them all. Murdoch seems to be telling us that in any family there are secrets. Secrets of the heart due to failures to connect, unawareness of what goes on, a lack of perspective caused by the claustrophobia of family. I have found that to be true in most families I know, even the good ones.
June 26, 2018
A short Gothic drama about hedonism versus the ethical life, this was my seventh Murdoch novel, and, alas, one of the less memorable ones (along with An Unofficial Rose and The Black Prince). Narrator Edmund Narraway, an engraver in his forties, arrives at the family home, a Victorian rectory in the North, one moonlit night shortly after his mother’s death. He’s locked out, but fortunately there’s another night prowler about who can let him in: David Levkin, the apprentice to Edmund’s drunken stonemason brother, Otto.
Edmund finds his mother Lydia’s body laid out on her bed and recalls the almost Oedipal relationships she had with him and his brother. Hints of incest are also there in Edmund’s infatuation with his niece, Flora, while various characters are in love (or lust) with David and his peculiar sister, Elsa, who both live in the property’s summer house. As in A Severed Head, the language of possession marks these shifting bonds as unhealthy and obsessive.
Murdoch often sets up stark dichotomies between characters and situations, and here Otto and Edmund serve as the two poles: “Otto’s Gothic, you know,” his wife Isabel says to Edmund. “He is the north. He’s primitive, gross.” In contrast, Edmund clings to the narrow way (as his surname suggests) of morality, taking a hard line on his niece’s ethical dilemma and largely avoiding the sexual temptations that come his way. “You are a good man,” Isabel tells him. “You are the assessor, the judge, the inspector, the liberator. You will clear us all up.”
I found this setup a little too simplistic (the brothers are also referred to by the shorthand of “wet-lipped” and “dry-lipped”), and the generalizing about Jews that bothered me in A Severed Head is worse here: there’s a whole chapter entitled “Two Kinds of Jew.” Given the title, I was unsure what role Maggie, the latest in Lydia’s series of Italian servants, is meant to play. She’s virtually speechless until the final chapter, and seems most like a nun.
A surprise will, a fire, and an interlude in an “enchanted wood” keep things moving along quickly, and it’s Murdoch’s shortest novel, almost what you’d call novella length. But this mostly felt to me like an unnecessary reprise of A Severed Head (and perhaps The Unicorn, which I haven’t read but know has a very Gothic atmosphere).
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
Edmund finds his mother Lydia’s body laid out on her bed and recalls the almost Oedipal relationships she had with him and his brother. Hints of incest are also there in Edmund’s infatuation with his niece, Flora, while various characters are in love (or lust) with David and his peculiar sister, Elsa, who both live in the property’s summer house. As in A Severed Head, the language of possession marks these shifting bonds as unhealthy and obsessive.
Murdoch often sets up stark dichotomies between characters and situations, and here Otto and Edmund serve as the two poles: “Otto’s Gothic, you know,” his wife Isabel says to Edmund. “He is the north. He’s primitive, gross.” In contrast, Edmund clings to the narrow way (as his surname suggests) of morality, taking a hard line on his niece’s ethical dilemma and largely avoiding the sexual temptations that come his way. “You are a good man,” Isabel tells him. “You are the assessor, the judge, the inspector, the liberator. You will clear us all up.”
I found this setup a little too simplistic (the brothers are also referred to by the shorthand of “wet-lipped” and “dry-lipped”), and the generalizing about Jews that bothered me in A Severed Head is worse here: there’s a whole chapter entitled “Two Kinds of Jew.” Given the title, I was unsure what role Maggie, the latest in Lydia’s series of Italian servants, is meant to play. She’s virtually speechless until the final chapter, and seems most like a nun.
A surprise will, a fire, and an interlude in an “enchanted wood” keep things moving along quickly, and it’s Murdoch’s shortest novel, almost what you’d call novella length. But this mostly felt to me like an unnecessary reprise of A Severed Head (and perhaps The Unicorn, which I haven’t read but know has a very Gothic atmosphere).
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
March 3, 2025
Iris Murdoch, önemli bir edebiyatçı olduğu kadar, önemli bir ahlak felsefecisi olarak da karşımıza çıkıyor. Toplumu ve bireyleri kendi ahlaki gerçekçi aynasından yansıtan eserler yazan yazarın İtalyan Kızı'da aynı şekilde, görünen kurgunun ötesine geçen bir ahlak sorgulaması ve toplum yergisi içeriyor.
Roman, protagonist Edmund Narraway'in annesinin ölümü üzerine yıllar sonra doğup büyüdüğü eve tekrar dönmesini ve burada hiç istemediği halde kendisini bir problemler girdabının içinde bulmasını konu alıyor. Yavaş yavaş otoriter, dominant bir anneden ve silik bir babadan (daha doğrusu sanatçı, idealist, kibar kişiliği karısı tarafından bir eksiklik olarak görülmüş ve çocuklarına bir ezik olarak yansıtılmış bir babadan) arta kalan bir ailenin ruhsal tablosu beliriyor önümüzde. Anne Lydia'nın ölümüyle aralanan sis perdesi, kendisini Lydia'ya endekslemiş, hayatını ve kişiliğini ona göre şekillendirmiş bir ev halkının içsel boşluğunu ve tamamlanamamışlığını gösteriyor bize. Ölmüş Lydia'nın otoritesinin demoklesin kılıcı gibi hala karakterlerin üzerinde sallandığını görüyor, Edmund'un yıllar önce evde kaçmasına neden olan böyle bir kontrolcülüğün yarattığı psikolojik baskılamanın iç yüzünü fark ediyoruz. Edmund; abisi Otto, yengesi Isabel, yeğeni Flora, İtalyan hizmetçi Maggie ve ailenin dönemsel işçileri Elsa ile David'den müteşekkil bir sorunlar yumağına çekildikçe çok acı bir içsel çatışmayla yüzyüze geliyor. Başlarda bu keşmekeşe karşı büyük bir tiksinti duysa ve kendini ahlaki bir otorite olarak görse de yavaş yavaş değişmekten kaçamıyor. Özellikle, acı ve neşeye aç dinamizmiyle ahlakçılığa karşı büyük bir isyanı simgeleyen yeğeni Flora'nın saf hayat enerjisi karşısında ezilip, hayat anlayışını sorgulamaya başlıyor Edmund. Abisi ve yengesi içinse bu görevi Elsa ve David üstleniyor. Onların ahlaki konforlarını yerle bir eden şeyin temelindeyse bu hayli grotesk iki göçmen yahudi kardeşin varlığının yattığını görüyoruz. Nihayet, tüm bu çatışmanın sonunda hem ahlaki hem ruhsal olarak büyümek, dönüşmek zorunda kalan karakterlerin kendilerinin daha iyi versiyonları haline geldiğine tanık oluyoruz.
**
Murdoch, dışarıdan güzel içeriden kof, ikiyüzlü bir ahlak anlayışı üzerinden kendi toplumunun bir eleştirisini yaptığı kadar, ahlakın diyalektiğine inanan, kişinin iyi ve objektif ahlaka doğru değişebileceğini savunan bir düşünceyi de işliyor eserinde. Bunu yaparken de dini metinlerden, klasik sanat eserlerinin ahlaki imgelerinden çokça faydalanıyor ve ahlakı kendi felsefesinin süzgecinden geçirip yeniden yorumluyor.
Roman, protagonist Edmund Narraway'in annesinin ölümü üzerine yıllar sonra doğup büyüdüğü eve tekrar dönmesini ve burada hiç istemediği halde kendisini bir problemler girdabının içinde bulmasını konu alıyor. Yavaş yavaş otoriter, dominant bir anneden ve silik bir babadan (daha doğrusu sanatçı, idealist, kibar kişiliği karısı tarafından bir eksiklik olarak görülmüş ve çocuklarına bir ezik olarak yansıtılmış bir babadan) arta kalan bir ailenin ruhsal tablosu beliriyor önümüzde. Anne Lydia'nın ölümüyle aralanan sis perdesi, kendisini Lydia'ya endekslemiş, hayatını ve kişiliğini ona göre şekillendirmiş bir ev halkının içsel boşluğunu ve tamamlanamamışlığını gösteriyor bize. Ölmüş Lydia'nın otoritesinin demoklesin kılıcı gibi hala karakterlerin üzerinde sallandığını görüyor, Edmund'un yıllar önce evde kaçmasına neden olan böyle bir kontrolcülüğün yarattığı psikolojik baskılamanın iç yüzünü fark ediyoruz. Edmund; abisi Otto, yengesi Isabel, yeğeni Flora, İtalyan hizmetçi Maggie ve ailenin dönemsel işçileri Elsa ile David'den müteşekkil bir sorunlar yumağına çekildikçe çok acı bir içsel çatışmayla yüzyüze geliyor. Başlarda bu keşmekeşe karşı büyük bir tiksinti duysa ve kendini ahlaki bir otorite olarak görse de yavaş yavaş değişmekten kaçamıyor. Özellikle, acı ve neşeye aç dinamizmiyle ahlakçılığa karşı büyük bir isyanı simgeleyen yeğeni Flora'nın saf hayat enerjisi karşısında ezilip, hayat anlayışını sorgulamaya başlıyor Edmund. Abisi ve yengesi içinse bu görevi Elsa ve David üstleniyor. Onların ahlaki konforlarını yerle bir eden şeyin temelindeyse bu hayli grotesk iki göçmen yahudi kardeşin varlığının yattığını görüyoruz. Nihayet, tüm bu çatışmanın sonunda hem ahlaki hem ruhsal olarak büyümek, dönüşmek zorunda kalan karakterlerin kendilerinin daha iyi versiyonları haline geldiğine tanık oluyoruz.
**
Murdoch, dışarıdan güzel içeriden kof, ikiyüzlü bir ahlak anlayışı üzerinden kendi toplumunun bir eleştirisini yaptığı kadar, ahlakın diyalektiğine inanan, kişinin iyi ve objektif ahlaka doğru değişebileceğini savunan bir düşünceyi de işliyor eserinde. Bunu yaparken de dini metinlerden, klasik sanat eserlerinin ahlaki imgelerinden çokça faydalanıyor ve ahlakı kendi felsefesinin süzgecinden geçirip yeniden yorumluyor.
December 31, 2022
tekrarlama oluyor ikinci okuyuşum eseri
https://edebiyatdanostalji.blogspot.c...
''Çan , İtalyan Kızı , Deniz Deniz ''eserlerini okumuş olmama rağmen tekrar okudum. Evet bazı eserleri tekrardan okumak sıkıntılıdır ama inanın ki İris Murdoch'un eserlerin öyle güçlü felsefik ve ilginç sıra dışı bir anlatım var ki sanki kitabı ilk defa okumuş gibi oluyorsunuz. Orda ki felsefi gizemli derinlik sizi bir nevi girdap gibi çekip alıyor koynuna. Ve bunu da severek kabul ediyorsunuz. ''Deniz Deniz'' i okumamın üzerinden çok uzun süre geçmemişti ama bu defa daha sakin daha rahat kendimi vererek okudum ve zamanınım olması şartlarımın evdeki çevremdeki dinginliğin tabiiki buna faydası oldu. ''Çan'' ı okumam üzerinden epey bir zaman geçmişti. Okurken bazı hatırladığım yerler ...
https://edebiyatdanostalji.blogspot.c...
''Çan , İtalyan Kızı , Deniz Deniz ''eserlerini okumuş olmama rağmen tekrar okudum. Evet bazı eserleri tekrardan okumak sıkıntılıdır ama inanın ki İris Murdoch'un eserlerin öyle güçlü felsefik ve ilginç sıra dışı bir anlatım var ki sanki kitabı ilk defa okumuş gibi oluyorsunuz. Orda ki felsefi gizemli derinlik sizi bir nevi girdap gibi çekip alıyor koynuna. Ve bunu da severek kabul ediyorsunuz. ''Deniz Deniz'' i okumamın üzerinden çok uzun süre geçmemişti ama bu defa daha sakin daha rahat kendimi vererek okudum ve zamanınım olması şartlarımın evdeki çevremdeki dinginliğin tabiiki buna faydası oldu. ''Çan'' ı okumam üzerinden epey bir zaman geçmişti. Okurken bazı hatırladığım yerler ...
May 6, 2022
Well written. Melodrama, very much on the edge of soap opera. The main character was, for me, insipid and detached to the point of obnoxiousness.
House mood feel; that was excellent, but other than that? This is a fore-runner in underlying voice and overriding attitude to the moderns of the elite "what's it all about Alfie" crowd. Most especially those of economics in which the men had gentlemen time consuming arts or leisure professions. And the women were more usually servant surrounded bored and beastly from it.
I was glad it was short.
House mood feel; that was excellent, but other than that? This is a fore-runner in underlying voice and overriding attitude to the moderns of the elite "what's it all about Alfie" crowd. Most especially those of economics in which the men had gentlemen time consuming arts or leisure professions. And the women were more usually servant surrounded bored and beastly from it.
I was glad it was short.
July 20, 2024
يعود "إدموند" لبيت العائلة لحضور جنازة أمه "ليديا" السيدة المتسلطة جافة المشاعر. قبل ذلك بسنوات كان قد ترك هذا البيت وهرب من حياته فيه ومشاكل أهل البيت الكئيب، ولكنه يعود الآن لتلك الحياة مرة أخرى ولنفس الوجوه القديمة، بل تزداد المشاكل التي عليه الانخراط فيها بين أفراد العائلة من شقيق سكير يدعى "أوتو" وهفواته، وزوجته "إيزابيل" المكتئبة، وإبنتهما "فلورا" المتمردة والمتعجرفة، وشخصيات جديدة دخلت عليهم في ذلك المنزل الملئ بالعلاقات المتشابكة والشاذة، وأخيرًا الخادمة الإيطالية "ماجي" والمربية لسنوات الطفولة له ولشقيقه وكونها لاعب أساسي في البيت الملئ بالأسرار والمفاجآت والخيانة. وجد "إدموند" نفسه في وسط كل هذا وعليه قبل كل شئ أن يلعب دور المصلح لهم وسأل نفسه: تُرى هل سأثبت أنني جدير به؟
الرواية تتناول إشكالية الخلاص وتغلب الخير على الشر بطريقة مسرحية أخلاقية كمسرحيات "شكسبير"؛ وبالفعل قدمت على المسرح في ستينات القرن العشرين. أيضًا تتناول الرواية الشهوة الإنسانية والتي تدفع الفرد للسيطرة والخضوع لها، وقوة الحب في فهم العلاقات الإنسانية التي في بعض الأحيان تكون غير واضحة المعالم. نجد أيضًا الغرق في المتع الحسية للفرد؛ وما يترتب عنها من علاقات معقدة ومشوهة بين الأفراد. أرادت أيضًا "مردوك" أن تبين أن الإنسان هش وأنه يتوهم أنه ممسك بتلابيب نفسه وحياته ومتحكم بها تمام الإحكام ولكن ما هو إلا ريشة في مهب الريح، وأن الحياة مهما حاولنا رسمها وجعلها تطاق وسهلة العيش، يأتي من يحول حياتك إلى دمار وعشوائية وعليك أن تجد المخرج والخلاص.
"الآن هو الوقت، الوقت بالضبط لاتخاذ القرار. ألا تدرك أننا نعرف الآن حقيقة أنفسنا. حقيقة سوف يصيبها الذبول".
الرواية تتناول إشكالية الخلاص وتغلب الخير على الشر بطريقة مسرحية أخلاقية كمسرحيات "شكسبير"؛ وبالفعل قدمت على المسرح في ستينات القرن العشرين. أيضًا تتناول الرواية الشهوة الإنسانية والتي تدفع الفرد للسيطرة والخضوع لها، وقوة الحب في فهم العلاقات الإنسانية التي في بعض الأحيان تكون غير واضحة المعالم. نجد أيضًا الغرق في المتع الحسية للفرد؛ وما يترتب عنها من علاقات معقدة ومشوهة بين الأفراد. أرادت أيضًا "مردوك" أن تبين أن الإنسان هش وأنه يتوهم أنه ممسك بتلابيب نفسه وحياته ومتحكم بها تمام الإحكام ولكن ما هو إلا ريشة في مهب الريح، وأن الحياة مهما حاولنا رسمها وجعلها تطاق وسهلة العيش، يأتي من يحول حياتك إلى دمار وعشوائية وعليك أن تجد المخرج والخلاص.
"الآن هو الوقت، الوقت بالضبط لاتخاذ القرار. ألا تدرك أننا نعرف الآن حقيقة أنفسنا. حقيقة سوف يصيبها الذبول".
June 14, 2025
Een vroeger werk van Iris Murdoch.
Toont zeker het talent dat Murdoch heeft om een donker verhaal met getroebleerde protagonisten op een mooie manier neer te pennen, dat talent dat uiteindelijk zal leiden tot het schrijven van het - in mijn ogen - sublieme, bijna perfecte The Sea, The Sea.
En ook hier weer die plotse plotwendingen op momenten dat je ze niet (meer) verwacht.
Toont zeker het talent dat Murdoch heeft om een donker verhaal met getroebleerde protagonisten op een mooie manier neer te pennen, dat talent dat uiteindelijk zal leiden tot het schrijven van het - in mijn ogen - sublieme, bijna perfecte The Sea, The Sea.
En ook hier weer die plotse plotwendingen op momenten dat je ze niet (meer) verwacht.
August 17, 2014
Iris Murdoch’s The Italian Girl reads like a cross between a Victoria Holt Gothic romance and a glimpse of a Holden Caulfield, still clueless, self-centered, and easily offended at forty-something. The protagonist and narrator, Edmund Narraway, returns home for the funeral of his domineering and destructive mother, Lydia, after years away. Still living at the dark, gloomy family mansion are Edmund’s alcoholic, philandering brother Otto, Otto’s neurotic wife Isabel, their beautiful but reckless teenage daughter Flora, and the Italian au pair Maggie, who stayed on even as Flora outgrew her — the eponymous Italian girl.
In the novel’s 171 pages, the Narraway family seeks fulfillment — both sexual and emotional — in the absolutely most destructive ways. I don’t want to give too much away, but let’s just say that Otto’s Russian twenty-something apprentice, David Levkin, and Levkin’s promiscuous sister Elsa don’t make matters any better for the dysfunctional Narraway clan. (While their famous father was an artist, Edmund is an engraver and Otto is a stone mason.) Published in 1964, The Italian Girl seems dated even for that time period; the effete Edmund reminds me more of an over-refined English mama’s boy in a 1920s P.G. Wodehouse novel, while his monstrous brother could play the murder victim who’s begging to be killed in a Dorothy L. Sayers or Agatha Christie novel.
From this book, while atmospheric and containing some beautifully turned phrases, I just don’t get what led millions to love Murdoch’s novels. The Italian Girl reminded me of the 1960s cult classic Dark Shadows — all dark, oppressive atmosphere and melodrama — but the Narraway family has none of the fun in its dysfunction. Despite some emotional fireworks, an unconvincing ending and long stretches of tedium make The Italian Girl a three-star read.
In the novel’s 171 pages, the Narraway family seeks fulfillment — both sexual and emotional — in the absolutely most destructive ways. I don’t want to give too much away, but let’s just say that Otto’s Russian twenty-something apprentice, David Levkin, and Levkin’s promiscuous sister Elsa don’t make matters any better for the dysfunctional Narraway clan. (While their famous father was an artist, Edmund is an engraver and Otto is a stone mason.) Published in 1964, The Italian Girl seems dated even for that time period; the effete Edmund reminds me more of an over-refined English mama’s boy in a 1920s P.G. Wodehouse novel, while his monstrous brother could play the murder victim who’s begging to be killed in a Dorothy L. Sayers or Agatha Christie novel.
From this book, while atmospheric and containing some beautifully turned phrases, I just don’t get what led millions to love Murdoch’s novels. The Italian Girl reminded me of the 1960s cult classic Dark Shadows — all dark, oppressive atmosphere and melodrama — but the Narraway family has none of the fun in its dysfunction. Despite some emotional fireworks, an unconvincing ending and long stretches of tedium make The Italian Girl a three-star read.
June 19, 2022
Protagonist Edmund returns to his family home in northern England for his mother’s funeral. He has been gone for many years, and at first thinks nothing much has changed. However, after speaking with his niece, he finds that the relationships among his relatives are much more complicated than expected. He soon finds himself embroiled in an unfolding family drama.
It harkens back to the gothic novels of the past, with the family’s mansion playing a significant role. The writing is atmospheric, projecting a dark and haunted impression, but avoiding supernatural elements. It is tightly focused, containing only six characters. The novel is named after one of the lesser prominent characters, the family’s long-time Italian servant. She floats around the fringes of the story, almost like a ghost. It contains an unreliable narrator and layered structure. It is not a traditional mystery by any stretch, but the family members’ secrets are eventually revealed.
I have now read three of Murdoch’s novels. My favorites are The Sea, The Sea, and The Black Prince. I liked this one but found the ending rather vague and unsatisfying.
It harkens back to the gothic novels of the past, with the family’s mansion playing a significant role. The writing is atmospheric, projecting a dark and haunted impression, but avoiding supernatural elements. It is tightly focused, containing only six characters. The novel is named after one of the lesser prominent characters, the family’s long-time Italian servant. She floats around the fringes of the story, almost like a ghost. It contains an unreliable narrator and layered structure. It is not a traditional mystery by any stretch, but the family members’ secrets are eventually revealed.
I have now read three of Murdoch’s novels. My favorites are The Sea, The Sea, and The Black Prince. I liked this one but found the ending rather vague and unsatisfying.
January 17, 2020
Bu kısa romandan gizli bir umudum vardı. Bitişinden sonra şöyle biraz uzaklaşıp baktığımda derli toplu yazıldığı, örgüsünün iyi kotarıldığını söyleyebilirim. Fakat biraz yakınlaşınca her yerinden sapır sapır dökülüyor. Bir filmin tretmanı olarak kabul edebileceğim nitelikte, son derece abartılı ele alınmış aile ilişkileri ve sırlarıyla bezenmiş; karakterlerin gelişiminde kırılma noktalarını asla anlayamadığım; garip katarsislerin bol keseden dağıtıldığı bir anlatıydı. Bu kadarı da fazla. Burjuva eleştirisi böyle de olmamalı. Otto ve David arasında kurulan homoerotik alt metin lezzetli bir şekilde işlenebilecek bir şeyken, yazar onun da üstünü silmiş de silmiş. Tavsiye etmiyorum arkadaşlar, çok daha güzel romanlar var.
İyi okumalar diliyorum.
İyi okumalar diliyorum.
February 12, 2015
What this book needs is more orcs. Or any orcs at all, really, but preferably a great horde of slavering, rampaging, hell-bent-on-destruction orcs. Failing that, zombies would do the trick. Or perhaps we could push swords into the characters’ hands and toss them into the gladiator arena. Frankly, they need something of the sort. A post-apocalypse world to shake them out of their fairyland and give them something serious to worry about. Because I’ve never come across such a snivelling bunch of whiny, self-absorbed morons who so badly need to just get over themselves.
Here’s the plot, such as it is. Matriarch Lydia has just died, and son Edmund returns to the family home wherein reside his brother Otto and his wife Isabel, along with Otto’s apprentice and his sister, and the resident nanny-turned-housekeeper, the eponymous Italian girl. The story then unfolds with one melodramatic revelation after another, accompanied by much shouting, gesturing, grand speech-making, falling down, weeping and wailing, and running about in the rain. There isn’t one of them who seems to have an ounce of common sense, or any idea of just how lucky they are not to be working in a factory or down the mines.
OK, OK, so I don’t get it. I probably lack the right receptors in my brain to get the point of a book like this. No doubt there are complex nuances of language or literature or philosophy or metaphor that simply whizzed over my head. I’m missing the point, I accept that. But it was short, and I finished it, so I gave it two stars. In future I shall leave Iris Murdoch to those better suited to appreciate the qualities of her writing.
Here’s the plot, such as it is. Matriarch Lydia has just died, and son Edmund returns to the family home wherein reside his brother Otto and his wife Isabel, along with Otto’s apprentice and his sister, and the resident nanny-turned-housekeeper, the eponymous Italian girl. The story then unfolds with one melodramatic revelation after another, accompanied by much shouting, gesturing, grand speech-making, falling down, weeping and wailing, and running about in the rain. There isn’t one of them who seems to have an ounce of common sense, or any idea of just how lucky they are not to be working in a factory or down the mines.
OK, OK, so I don’t get it. I probably lack the right receptors in my brain to get the point of a book like this. No doubt there are complex nuances of language or literature or philosophy or metaphor that simply whizzed over my head. I’m missing the point, I accept that. But it was short, and I finished it, so I gave it two stars. In future I shall leave Iris Murdoch to those better suited to appreciate the qualities of her writing.
September 13, 2025
Vijf sterren, alleen al voor het leesplezier dat dit boekje mij schonk.
Ook het schrijfplezier spat van de pagina's af.
Ook het schrijfplezier spat van de pagina's af.
January 7, 2021
Това ми е четвъртия роман от Айрис Мърдок и е много любопитно, че първият и третият ("Под мрежата" и "Морето, морето") веднага влязоха в любимите ми книги, а вторият и четвъртият ("Отделената глава" и тази) бяха направо казано ужасни. "Италианското момиче" е къс роман, в който героите са неправдоподобни, мотивациите им още повече, и почти нищо не се разбира от разхвърляния символизъм. Стори ми се наблъскана с незаслужена емоционалност и драма - просто спусната отникъде.
И тук, като в другите й книги, главният герой е мъж, ненадежден разказвач, който е леко неприятен, но без човек да може да определи точно защо. И тук има необясними взаимоотношения, които не мога да припозная с нищо от собствения си опит като човек, имал взаимоотношения с други хора. Но в другите две книги това беше органична част от малко шантаво, дори фантастично повествование, и в неговия контекст звучаха автентично, правдоподобно, дори логично. Тук тази спойка я няма. Сякаш книгата е написана мързеливо, без особено желание. Във всеки случай не бих препоръчала на никого да си губи времето с нея. На мен ми беше безкрайно досадно. Но непременно прочетете "Под мрежата" и "Морето, морето"!
И тук, като в другите й книги, главният герой е мъж, ненадежден разказвач, който е леко неприятен, но без човек да може да определи точно защо. И тук има необясними взаимоотношения, които не мога да припозная с нищо от собствения си опит като човек, имал взаимоотношения с други хора. Но в другите две книги това беше органична част от малко шантаво, дори фантастично повествование, и в неговия контекст звучаха автентично, правдоподобно, дори логично. Тук тази спойка я няма. Сякаш книгата е написана мързеливо, без особено желание. Във всеки случай не бих препоръчала на никого да си губи времето с нея. На мен ми беше безкрайно досадно. Но непременно прочетете "Под мрежата" и "Морето, морето"!
February 10, 2021
What an odd book. A real case of That escalated quickly! Murdoch is such a cerebral writer, there is just too much plot and melodrama.
March 6, 2011
My first Iris Murdoch book and boy can she write beautifully. I was transported into the book and lost myself in it. For some reason, I have always been put off her writing because I thought it would be too cerebral and I would become bored but if this is anything to go by, I will be reading more of her stuff.
At 160 pages this can easily be read in one day.
At 160 pages this can easily be read in one day.
July 6, 2018
The Italian Girl is the eighth in the chronological readalong of Iris Murdoch’s novels I’m participating in (https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/t...) and one that is reminiscent of several of her earlier novels including The Unicorn and A Severed Head. Once again we have a collection of characters that are either thoroughly dislikable or unsympathetic, we have affairs, we have a teenager left to their own devices and its consequences, beautiful countryside, a country house, dramatic scenes and enchantment.
Edward, the narrator who arrives at the family home for the funeral of his mother Lydia, is an insipid, naive and moralistic man who denies he is judging the rest of the family while doing just that and whose behavior is, morally, no better than theirs; his response to Flora, in particular, borders on incestuous. Although Otto and Isabel, his brother and sister-in-law, are flawed fairytale like figures, Otto the hulking simple giant and Isabel the princess locked away in her castle like Hannah in The Unicorn, they are more honest in giving in to and accepting their passions whereas Edward is hypocritical and uptight, especially at the beginning of the novel where he tries to distance himself from the family saying he is ‘only a passer-by’.
Edward’s own intimate relationships seem to have been pretty disastrous and he appears to view women as types. Despite mourning at the fact that he wasn’t brought up with religion, he has an often puritanical attitude to the behavior of others which is ironic seeing as they are expecting him to assess, liberate and heal them. Edward’s instinct is to shy away from ‘emotion and pistol shots’ which are reminiscent of his controlling mother while Isabel, Otto and Flora all crave excitement and passion. Eventually he too falls under some kind of spell that forces him to stay, yet is continually being shocked by everyone around him like some repressed priest, even women fighting makes him nauseated!
Although the title of the novel is The Italian girl, Maggie, who is the last in a line of Italian nannies for the brothers, seems to quietly inhabit the background of the novel, it is the other female characters who move across the emotional scale from one extreme to the other and fall victim to Edward’s stereotypical views on women. He describes Isabel as a ‘distraught nymph’ and a ‘harlot’ and David’s sister Elsa as both ‘beautiful as a veiled girl’ as, ‘a sorceress and a prostitute’ and a ‘greasy enchantress’. For the reader she reminds veiled, we don’t get a sense of her like we do Flora or Isabel and she seems simply a catalyst for change in the novel.
Flora meanwhile is one of Murdoch’s disturbed and neglected teenagers who flits in and out of the novel and has to fend for herself while her mother Isabel surrounds herself with possessions and fire as a form of self-sacrifice or protection from Lydia and Otto. Along with Elsa, these two are colorful and vibrant in their hair and their clothes while Maggie is plain and ‘anonymous’, only when her hair is cut like Samson, does she conversely gain power and a voice.
Apart from the four women and Edward, there are only two other characters, Otto who stands in stark contrast to Edward as a passionate and ID driven hulk with his stained clothes, animal like eating habits and persistent dreams of persecution, which provide moments of humor and David his apprentice who is a strange and creepy young man who calls Otto his ‘Lord’ and seems one minute to be his Lords fool and another his pimp.
There are several dramatic scenes in the book which often occur in Murdoch novels, several of which involve the garden and the ‘Henri Rousseau’ like jungle which I’m sure whole essays could be written about. There is a chase and several plans that fail, and Edward even manages to behave honorably and honestly by the end, apparently he has had his eyes opened to the realities of the world although the ending of the novel with him and Maggie has an almost fairytale element to it. Although this novel isn’t as entrenched in the gothic or fairy tale atmosphere of The Unicorn, there is the impression that Otto, Flora and Isabel were enchanted by David and his sister the ‘changelings’, who have taken the place of Lydia who had the entire household in her grip.
The novel seems over and done with very quickly –this is one of Murdoch’s shorter novels- Lydia seems to have been thoroughly exorcised from the house and family, everyone is moving on with their lives as the veil has been lifted and the drama is over and although this is one of her slighter books, there is still that indelible Murdoch writing and the spot on characterization that makes this, though not one of the strongest of her books I’ve read so far, still an enjoyable read.
Some Murdochian lines
‘her face has aged in that imperceptible way, becoming yellower or greyer, as if a fine gauze of frowning and anxiety had been pressed upon it.’
‘there are, I suppose, always for unhappy women many good reasons for bearing the devil they know rather than seeking the other one.’
‘I felt for a second some sympathy with Otto’s view that irony ought to be grounds for divorce.’
Edward, the narrator who arrives at the family home for the funeral of his mother Lydia, is an insipid, naive and moralistic man who denies he is judging the rest of the family while doing just that and whose behavior is, morally, no better than theirs; his response to Flora, in particular, borders on incestuous. Although Otto and Isabel, his brother and sister-in-law, are flawed fairytale like figures, Otto the hulking simple giant and Isabel the princess locked away in her castle like Hannah in The Unicorn, they are more honest in giving in to and accepting their passions whereas Edward is hypocritical and uptight, especially at the beginning of the novel where he tries to distance himself from the family saying he is ‘only a passer-by’.
Edward’s own intimate relationships seem to have been pretty disastrous and he appears to view women as types. Despite mourning at the fact that he wasn’t brought up with religion, he has an often puritanical attitude to the behavior of others which is ironic seeing as they are expecting him to assess, liberate and heal them. Edward’s instinct is to shy away from ‘emotion and pistol shots’ which are reminiscent of his controlling mother while Isabel, Otto and Flora all crave excitement and passion. Eventually he too falls under some kind of spell that forces him to stay, yet is continually being shocked by everyone around him like some repressed priest, even women fighting makes him nauseated!
Although the title of the novel is The Italian girl, Maggie, who is the last in a line of Italian nannies for the brothers, seems to quietly inhabit the background of the novel, it is the other female characters who move across the emotional scale from one extreme to the other and fall victim to Edward’s stereotypical views on women. He describes Isabel as a ‘distraught nymph’ and a ‘harlot’ and David’s sister Elsa as both ‘beautiful as a veiled girl’ as, ‘a sorceress and a prostitute’ and a ‘greasy enchantress’. For the reader she reminds veiled, we don’t get a sense of her like we do Flora or Isabel and she seems simply a catalyst for change in the novel.
Flora meanwhile is one of Murdoch’s disturbed and neglected teenagers who flits in and out of the novel and has to fend for herself while her mother Isabel surrounds herself with possessions and fire as a form of self-sacrifice or protection from Lydia and Otto. Along with Elsa, these two are colorful and vibrant in their hair and their clothes while Maggie is plain and ‘anonymous’, only when her hair is cut like Samson, does she conversely gain power and a voice.
Apart from the four women and Edward, there are only two other characters, Otto who stands in stark contrast to Edward as a passionate and ID driven hulk with his stained clothes, animal like eating habits and persistent dreams of persecution, which provide moments of humor and David his apprentice who is a strange and creepy young man who calls Otto his ‘Lord’ and seems one minute to be his Lords fool and another his pimp.
There are several dramatic scenes in the book which often occur in Murdoch novels, several of which involve the garden and the ‘Henri Rousseau’ like jungle which I’m sure whole essays could be written about. There is a chase and several plans that fail, and Edward even manages to behave honorably and honestly by the end, apparently he has had his eyes opened to the realities of the world although the ending of the novel with him and Maggie has an almost fairytale element to it. Although this novel isn’t as entrenched in the gothic or fairy tale atmosphere of The Unicorn, there is the impression that Otto, Flora and Isabel were enchanted by David and his sister the ‘changelings’, who have taken the place of Lydia who had the entire household in her grip.
The novel seems over and done with very quickly –this is one of Murdoch’s shorter novels- Lydia seems to have been thoroughly exorcised from the house and family, everyone is moving on with their lives as the veil has been lifted and the drama is over and although this is one of her slighter books, there is still that indelible Murdoch writing and the spot on characterization that makes this, though not one of the strongest of her books I’ve read so far, still an enjoyable read.
Some Murdochian lines
‘her face has aged in that imperceptible way, becoming yellower or greyer, as if a fine gauze of frowning and anxiety had been pressed upon it.’
‘there are, I suppose, always for unhappy women many good reasons for bearing the devil they know rather than seeking the other one.’
‘I felt for a second some sympathy with Otto’s view that irony ought to be grounds for divorce.’
May 13, 2021
Yazardan ilk okuduğum kitap olması nedeniyle sanırım biraz şaşkınım. Tamamen yozlaşmış aile ilişkileri karşısında ne düşüneceğimi bilemiyorum açıkçası. Sanırım yazarın yergi dili bu şekilde. Başka kitaplarını okuduktan sonra belki benim için daha anlaşılır olacaktır.
April 26, 2023
This book is like a play in which characters' emotions and feelings are heated to the limit, and you get dragged into this boiling whirlpool of passions, plunging headfirst into it. At the same time, you find yourself smeared in such dirt, which you know won't immediately wash away. You feel like the main character, walking in the rain on the lawn, getting stuck in the mud, or even like the Italian Maggie who loses her snow-white shoes in this mud. You, like these very shoes, turn out to be smeared in the vile and incomprehensible details of this family of madmen, stewing in their psychological problems and iniquities, drowning in their mud of human vices.
I won't dwell on the heroes, the inhabitants of the mansion. They're all pathetic and unhappy people, but it's this pity and unhappiness that keeps them together. As long as they stay together, living together in this house, they won't be happy. There are so many skeletons in the family's closets—violence and infidelity, pregnancy and abortion—and it's getting nasty, but we must pay tribute to Murdoch, who, very skillfully and subtly, introduces us to the secrets of this dysfunctional family, immerses us in their passions. And events are rushing to their tragic ending for some, overgrowing with details, like a snowball, in order for the fire to burn this lump at the end and purify their poor, tired souls.
It seems that there's a lot of action for such a small book, but it only seems so because of the limited territorial—all events develop in one mansion and the circle of heroes is limited to its inhabitants. The vices of the heroes seem to be hyperbolized: can there really be such ugly personalities in one family? But yes, there can! All of them have long gone mad, ceased to be people and became merely empty shells, parodies of themselves. And only the death of one character brings the heroes out of this trance, pushing them to change both external and internal.
I won't dwell on the heroes, the inhabitants of the mansion. They're all pathetic and unhappy people, but it's this pity and unhappiness that keeps them together. As long as they stay together, living together in this house, they won't be happy. There are so many skeletons in the family's closets—violence and infidelity, pregnancy and abortion—and it's getting nasty, but we must pay tribute to Murdoch, who, very skillfully and subtly, introduces us to the secrets of this dysfunctional family, immerses us in their passions. And events are rushing to their tragic ending for some, overgrowing with details, like a snowball, in order for the fire to burn this lump at the end and purify their poor, tired souls.
It seems that there's a lot of action for such a small book, but it only seems so because of the limited territorial—all events develop in one mansion and the circle of heroes is limited to its inhabitants. The vices of the heroes seem to be hyperbolized: can there really be such ugly personalities in one family? But yes, there can! All of them have long gone mad, ceased to be people and became merely empty shells, parodies of themselves. And only the death of one character brings the heroes out of this trance, pushing them to change both external and internal.
Maybe in the end it just turned us into ourselves. We all died for a moment, but everything that happened after that became much more definite.
February 3, 2011
Former glimpses of Murdoch's prose hinted at a grace and flow, but I was sorry to find that most of the language here is clunky and scans poorly. Visual details are scant and while some of the images show a whimsical use of the imagination, most are colourless and uninteresting.
I tried to care about the characters, but their problems seemed to alternate unevenly between the exotic and the mundane without any unique observations or enticing portrayals. The whole book read like a first-draft.
This hasn't turned me off reading more of Murdoch in future, because most sources I've hit upon share the view that this is a minor work, but I hope sincerely that her other books are more impressive.
I tried to care about the characters, but their problems seemed to alternate unevenly between the exotic and the mundane without any unique observations or enticing portrayals. The whole book read like a first-draft.
This hasn't turned me off reading more of Murdoch in future, because most sources I've hit upon share the view that this is a minor work, but I hope sincerely that her other books are more impressive.
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