Iris Murdoch, An Accidental Man

Tammy Grimshaw (Universidad de Jaen)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Gina Lyle (University of Glasgow), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1971

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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In a 1968 interview, Iris Murdoch commented that she would like to create a novel “made up entirely of peripheral characters, sort of accidental people like Dickens’ people, this would be a very much better novel” (W.K. Rose,

Shenandoah

19:2 (1968) 11).

An Accidental Man

(1971), which juxtaposes the themes of contingency and accident against the author’s use of narrative patterns and form, is Murdoch’s attempt at such a novel. Containing an enormous cast and a rambling plot, this work can also be described as one of Murdoch’s “open” novels, one that “contains a lot of characters who rush about independently, each one eccentric and self-centred; the plot to some extent situates them in a pattern but does not integrate them into a single system” (Anon,

Bookman

, November…

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2068 words

Citation: Grimshaw, Tammy. "An Accidental Man". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 February 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=10011, accessed 23 April 2024.]

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