Iris Murdoch, The Black Prince

Cheryl Bove (Independent Scholar - North America)
Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error

A scene of domestic violence frames the action of Iris Murdoch's

The Black Prince

. Bradley Pearson, the novel's first-person narrator, is telephoned by his best friend, novelist Arnold Baffin, who reports that he has just murdered his wife with a blow from a fireplace poker. Baffin has not actually succeeded in murdering his wife, Rachel, but by the novel's ending Pearson receives yet another phone call, this time from Rachel, claiming that she has indeed murdered her husband with this same fireplace poker. Subsequently, Bradley Pearson is himself convicted of Arnold's murder, and the novel becomes a work of art in his retelling of his love for the Baffins' twenty-year-old daughter, Julian. Bradley's life-long pilgrimage in search of truthful art involves suffering and failure in his…

2091 words

Citation: Bove, Cheryl. "The Black Prince". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 May 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=10012, accessed 29 March 2024.]

10012 The Black Prince 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.