The Message to the Planet

I'm sadly nearing the end of my Iris Murdoch reading project. This is a decent book with many of her usual themes. A cast of strange friends interacting, some scarcely plausible events, sudden and intense love, stones, water. Reading her books over a number of years I'm struck with how each book is similar but different as she worries away at the same problems of what is good, of how we love, of what we are doing in the world. In this Patrick is a genius or possibly a madman who becomes a guru by mistake and his friends try to figure out what this means.

This is a big novel and exhibits the classic Murdochian imagery (motifs really) and themes and characters in abundance. What has begun, overall, to amaze me about her work is that each book offers a fresh approach to the same subject (nature of good and evil, within and without). In all her books, swimming (and specific swimming places), beautiful stones of all sizes, amazing houses, gardens and landscapes, women's (and some men's) clothing, especially dresses, and food, the occasional crucial cat or dog, to name a few motifs that recur and recur. One especially fine image/motif in this novel is a huge sarcen rock, called the Axle stone, on the grounds of a high end mental institution. The themes are simpler: infidelity and the show more converse, loyalty and the big questions of good and evil, innocence and depravity. She also, as often examines the link between genius, mental illness and the paranormal (if any) and faith versus rationality. In this novel two threads weave (although they only connect through one person, the main character, Alfred Ludens) one concerning the artist Jack and his attempt to get two women to consent to be his concubine-wives and the other concerning Marcus Vallar a man who has exhibited genius (early on in maths, then in painting) with whom he has been somewhat obsessed since meeting him as a student. There is a group of friends and Marcus, apparently, cursed one of them andIrishman and a poet who is now wasting away and on his deathbed. Ludens finds Marcus and begs him to come and lift the curse which Marcus does, in fact, do in a way that appears miraculous. Marcus' daughter will have none of it: she knows he is a man on the edge, close to madness. What is remarkable to me is that Murdoch convincingly portrays a man of genius in a mental torment - not an easy thing to do. Ludens is the agent who 'translates' what Marcus says and there is a constant tension between Ludens hopes and wishes that Marcus will break through into some critical insight into human nature that will help mankind progress and the fact that Marcus, while he has genuinely struggled to understand the nature of evil and suffering, has been broken by it. Sometimes you find yourself doubting Marcus only to be freshly presented with an example of his sincerity and anguish. Ludens, his acolyte, alternately seems loving and selfishly cruel and deluded. To trivialize what Murdoch is attempting to examine would be a shame. While the dresses and food and so on might seem to be in too great a contrast to the bigger theme, not at all. Such is the nature of being alive: being caught in the small details, as well as one's own emotional limitations. Ludens really is awful and naive and stupid a lot of the time, but you never doubt his love for Marcus and his sincerity and even a certain level of honesty with himself even though it doesn't make him behave any better. It is, ultimately, the story of one person growing up: Ludens, and he does successfully do this, so that is all to the good. I can't say I loved every minute - it took me two months, with several breaks, to get through. Jack is a terrible ass and you want to shake him by the scruff of his neck. It was hard reading, but the women do eventually get wise--with the help of a sensible Bostonian named Maisie (very funny!). I also found it poignant that Murdoch was examining the crumbling of a brilliant mind. This is her third from the last book, 1990, and while the next one The Green Knight is successful, the final one is shows signs, apparently of failing mental ability. I see none of that here, only perhaps, a sense of looming disaster on the far horizon. Fascinating as always. I don't really care at this point whether I 'like' a particular one of her books or not. **** show less

Would any wife allow her husband to move his young mistress into the house? That’s what happens this long novel written when Murdoch was approaching the end of her illustrious literary career. Add to that a man raised from the dead and A mathematical genius worshiped by hippies, you might think you’re immersed in a fantasy novel rather than a story about wealthy academics and artists pursuing their egotistical desires. Murdoch wouldn’t claim to be a realist writer however and philosophy, the preternatural and cosy domesticity sit happily side by side in this thoroughly entertaining tale, that even has a happy ending for most of the characters.

I couldn't resist going back to Iris Murdoch for my final book of 2020, and I have to admit that finishing a book this long in three days was more of a challenge than I anticipated, largely because of the density of the text and the amount of philosophical discussion.

There is still plenty of Murdoch's characteristic character building. For me the main character Albert Ludens (who prefers to be known by his surname) is the least interesting, but it is his story through the more charismatic characters are introduced. The most significant is Marcus Vallans, whose past include a great discovery as a young mathematician and a painting phase which was well received. Vallans now leads a reclusive life with his daughter Irina. Ludens believes show more him to be on the verge of a great discovery and feels it is his duty to facilitate its emergence. Some of his friends believe that Marcus is mad, and one of them, Patrick, is on his death bed with a mysterious illness he attributes to Marcus's curse. Ludens uses Patrick as an excuse to track Marcus down to a cottage on the Essex estate of a largely absent lord, and persuades him to see Patrick, who he succeeds in reviving in circumstances that appear miraculous. Irina then arranges for Marcus to move to another rural cottage, which is attached to an expensive mental institution, and the bulk of the book is set there.

Ludens and Patrick's friends include Jack, a painter who wants his wife Franca and mistress Alison to support his idea of living openly in menage a trois, and their machinations are in some ways more interesting than the main story.

This is another fine book, but perhaps not the best place to start for anyone new to Murdoch's writing. show less

Bought 30 Dec 1994

I have to say that this is not my favourite Murdoch. Like the remaining ones we have to read now, I had only read this once before. I think I recall liking The Green Knight more; I certainly hope so. Anyway. With its echos of an Indian novel whose title I can't remember (it's not Naipaul's The Mystic Masseur, but one about a chap who sits under a tree and accidentally becomes a guru), there is a good dollop of clever irony in the book, and I like the collection of Oxford friends, and a couple of the characters, but it doesn't engage and attract like The Book And The Brotherhood. There is a whopping great example of one of our group's Themes, though. I'll be interested to see what the others think of it.

I tried for almost half the book, but just couldn't get into it. I couldn't figure out when the story was set, didn't warm to any of the characters, and the plot just left me cold. So, I gave up. It's a little disappointing because I loved the other books I read by Iris Murdoch, all of which either had a gripping plot or, as The Bell, were littered with quite humourous scenes.

Amazingly pretentious book filled with incredibly self-absorbed people.