Existentialists and Mystics

Gathered together in this volume are some of Iris Murdoch's most influential writings. They include major critiques of existentialism, essays such as "The Sublime and the Good", Platonic dialogues, and analyses of key literary and philosophical figures such as T.S.Eliot and Sartre.

"Brilliantly readable . . . Murdoch can make the most demanding questions of life accessible and exciting." — The Baltimore Sun

" Existentialists and Mystics desribes the intellectual journey of a lifetime. This book is Murdoch's key. Readers will find much here to stimulate, entertain and edify. No one conveys the beauty and excitement of philosophy better than Murdoch." —Hilary Spurling, Daily Telegraph

"Murdoch, a wondrous writer and a careful student of the history of thought, is endowed a rare talent for philosophical writing—she offers, in accessible prose, insight into some of the great questoins that have preoccupied thinkers for centuries." — San Diego Union

"Tight, graceful writing, and a pleasure to read . . . [Murdoch's moral theory] has a real claim to our attention." —Elijah Millgram, The Boston Review

"A perceptive investigation into the symbiotic relationship of philosophy and literature." — The Guardian

Iris Murdoch (1919–1999) was born in Dublin and brought up in London. She studied philosophy at Cambridge and was a philosophy fellow at St. Anne's College for 20 years. She published her first novel in 1954 and was instantly recognized as a major talent. She went on to publish more than 26 novels, as well as works of philosophy, plays, and poetry.