A. S. Byatt, Degrees of Freedom

Emma Victoria Miller (University of Durham)
Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error
Degrees of Freedom

was the first book length critical work on the fiction of Iris Murdoch when it was published in 1965; it considers the first eight novels of her oeuvre. The title and the central premise of the work were taken from Murdoch’s article “Against Dryness” (1961). However, to have previously read and understood Murdoch’s essay is not entirely necessary to reading and understanding Byatt’s commentary, especially as the introduction to Byatt’s work explores Murdoch’s views in “Against Dryness”; indeed, Byatt’s approach is eminently accessible to both new readers of Iris Murdoch, as well as the more advanced student of literature. However, to know Murdoch’s purpose and how Byatt has utilised it is the only way to fully appreciate the academic effort in

1193 words

Citation: Miller, Emma Victoria. "Degrees of Freedom". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 April 2011 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=5666, accessed 19 March 2024.]

5666 Degrees of Freedom 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.