Iris Murdoch and Elias Canetti
Intellectual Allies

Elaine Morley

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Studies In Comparative Literature 29

Legenda

25 September 2013  •  172pp

ISBN: 978-1-907975-74-5 (hardback)  •  RRP £80, $110, €95

ISBN: 978-1-351191-79-1 (Taylor & Francis ebook)

ContemporaryEnglishGermanFictionPhilosophy

Since the revelation of Iris Murdoch's (1919-1999) affair with Elias Canetti (1905-1994), scholarship on their relationship has been largely biographical, focusing in particular on Canetti's alleged role as the real-life model for some of Murdoch's most invidious protagonists. Little research, however, has been done on the extensive common ground between the two writers' literary projects. In this groundbreaking comparative study, Elaine Morley conducts a careful philological comparison of Murdoch's and Canetti's works, from their literary themes and theories to their idiosyncratic stylistic practices. Morley demonstrates that these authors were preoccupied with a common philosophical problem, and that they were in fact not only personally close, but also more intellectually allied than has been previously thought.

Elaine Morley is Lecturer in German and Comparative Literature at Queen Mary, University of London where she convenes the MA in Anglo-German Cultural Relations.

Reviews:

  • ‘As Elaine Morley aptly observes in her exciting and innovative book, the majority of publications foreground personality and relationship issues but allow little room for discussion of the creative affinity between the two authors... The much-needed shift of focus from the personal to the literary and philosophical in Morley’s analysis of Murdoch and Canetti as intellectual allies is path-breaking.’ — Dagmar C. G. Lorenz, Modern Language Review 109.4, October 2014, 1142-43 (full text online)

Bibliography entry:

Morley, Elaine, Iris Murdoch and Elias Canetti: Intellectual Allies, Studies In Comparative Literature, 29 (Legenda, 2013)

First footnote reference: 35 Elaine Morley, Iris Murdoch and Elias Canetti: Intellectual Allies, Studies In Comparative Literature, 29 (Legenda, 2013), p. 21.

Subsequent footnote reference: 37 Morley, p. 47.

(To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.)

Bibliography entry:

Morley, Elaine. 2013. Iris Murdoch and Elias Canetti: Intellectual Allies, Studies In Comparative Literature, 29 (Legenda)

Example citation: ‘A quotation occurring on page 21 of this work’ (Morley 2013: 21).

Example footnote reference: 35 Morley 2013: 21.

(To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.)

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