Elegy For Iris - Hardcover

John Bayley

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312198647 ISBN 13: 9780312198640

Publisher: St. Martin's Press, 1999

Synopsis

A moving memoir by the husband of the great contemporary writer Dame Iris Murdoch captures the ineffable mystery and fascination that she has exerted on both him and her readers and chronicles her recent sad struggle with Alzheimer's disease. 25,000 first printing. First serial, The New Yorker.

About this title

Review:

In one of literary history's ghastlier ironies, Iris Murdoch, the author of such highly intellectual and philosophical novels as A Severed Head and Under the Net, was diagnosed in 1994 with Alzheimer's disease, which slowly destroys reasoning powers, memory, even the ability to speak coherently. Her husband, English literary critic John Bayley, unsparingly depicts his wife's affliction in prose as elegant and accessible as hers always was. Readers may wince at the spectacle of Murdoch glued to the TV watching the Teletubbies program, unable to perform tasks as simple as dressing herself and prey to devastating anxiety as the world becomes less and less comprehensible to her. We understand Bayley's occasional fits of rage when his caretaking chores overwhelm him. Yet in the end his memoir is touching, even inspiring. As he recalls their first meetings and marriage in the 1950s, it becomes clear that theirs was always an unconventional union, in which solitude was as important to each of them as togetherness and Bayley was content to let Murdoch keep her inner life to herself. He loves Iris, the woman, not the intellect, and he conveys an essential sweetness about his wife that endures even as her mental faculties deteriorate. This totally unsentimental account of their life and her illness is nonetheless a heartbreaker. --Wendy Smith

From the Publisher:

John Bayley, who has been married to Iris Murdoch for over forty years, has written one of the most extraordinary memoirs of recent years. With great compassion he re-creates their passionate love affair and poignantly describes the mask that has ineluctably descended over Iris's being with the progression of her Alzheimer's disease. It is Bayley's accomplishment to find the glimmers of Iris's old self that break through the barriers of her disease, and to share with us his message of hope and joy.

About this edition

• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0312198647
• ISBN 13: 9780312198640
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 275