Philosopher's Pupil

By: Iris Murdoch

Narrated by: Gildart Jackson

Length: 23 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's Summary

When George McCaffrey’s car plunges into a canal with his wife still inside, nobody knows whether George is to blame. Nobody, that is, except an Anglican priest who happened to witness the whole thing. And when George’s former teacher, the charismatic philosopher Rozanov, returns to town, George’s life begins to spin wildly out of control. Set in the English spa town of Ennistone, The Philosopher’s Pupil is a darkly comic story of love, redemption, and the complex nature of the human condition.

©1983 Iris Murdoch (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

A Trip Down a philosophical Lane

Murdoch is in high style in this novel with an engaging story that keeps unfolding against a subtle background of moral philosophy. As in her other books she anchors twisty philosophical issues in a cunning narrative but for anyone with a minimal sense of the subject Murdoch provides both entertainment and enlightenment. For example, it doesn't take much to see that the disheveled, mainly anti-social philosopher of the title is based on Socrates,that the action, mainly set around a second-rate spa in Britain (known as the "Institute") registers the Greek-Roman focus on the town bath as the center of social life. etc. The plot goes a bit off the rails from time to time, and the book is too long for its own good, but I enjoyed it. The reading is very fine.

Murdoch is a l ways brilliant

Gildart Jackson is puré genius. What a delightful way to reread an old familiar novel.

Iris Murdoch's masterpiece.

Strong readers know the greatness of this novel and rate it up there with the best. It came out at a time when Iris Murdoch's reputation was in flux; it was published in the midst of her greatest period of productivity, sandwiched between a wonderful assortment of masterpieces. Lazy literary critics label writers, especially if they happen to be women, and then abide by the label. Iris Murdoch defies all the labels--including the last applied by her envious husband. This is her masterpiece--oh, it takes a touch of digging, but not much--a novel that builds a world of "occupiable" characters (some at first despicable, then often lovable), a murder-mystery plot for the seeker and the enlightened, and shows how we grow and decline and rise and fall and rebound and, perhaps, prevail. I don't re-read unless it's necessary; there are too many worthwhile books. But this is a work that merits and enormously rewards repeated readings. Enjoy.