Murdoch, Iris (1919-1999): Letters to Sugana Ramanathan

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 2108 KUAS9
Held at	: Kingston University   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.kingston.ac.uk/informationservices/archives/archives_index.html ›
Full title	: Murdoch, Iris (1919-1999): Letters to Sugana Ramanathan
Date(s)	: c1981-c1995
Level of description	: collection
Extent	: 1 folder
Name of creator(s)	: Murdoch | Dame | Jean Iris | 1919-1999 | author x Murdoch | Iris

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Dame Jean Iris Murdoch was born on 15 July 1919 in Dublin; later moving with her family to Brook Green, Hammersmith. Murdoch was educated at Froebel Demonstration School at Colet Gardens; Badminton School, Bristol from 1932 and Somerville College Oxford; winning scholarships to both Badminton and Somerville College.

At Oxford, Murdoch was influenced by the classicist, Eduard Fraenkel, and her philosophy tutor Donald MacKinnon and soon joined the Communist Party. Murdoch gained a first in Classics in 1942 and was employed as assistant principal in the Treasury, 1942-1944; later joining the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, working in London, Brussels and Austria. Murdoch returned to London in 1946 winning a place at Vassar College and a Commonwealth Scholarship, however as she had declared herself a communist on her application for an American visa her application was denied. Murdoch studied at Newnham College, Cambridge, 1947-1948 and won a philosophy tutorship at St Anne's, Oxford, where she stayed until 1963, she later worked as a lecturer at Royal College of Art for four years.

Murdoch's first book Sartre: Romantic Rationalist was published in 1953 by Bowes and Bowes in a series titled 'Studies in Modern Thought' and her first novel Under the net was accepted for publication. She went on to write many books including The Bell, 1958, which achieved great commercial success and The Red and the Green, 1965, concerning the Easter rising, reflecting her Irish background. Murdoch was appointed DBE in 1987 and presented with an honorary degree from Kingston University in 1993. In 1997 Murdoch was diagnosed as suffering with Alzheimer's disease and died in Oxford on 8 February 1999.

Publications include: Existentialists and Mystics: Writings on Literature and Philosophy, 1997; A Fairly Honourable Defeat, 1970 and Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals, 1992.

Sugana Ramanathan, an academic employed by St Xaviers College, Ahmedabad, India [1998], wrote about Iris in Figures of Good (Macmillan, London, 1990) and met her 1987 at Murdoch's house. Ramanathan corresponded with Murdoch regularly during 1980s-1990s.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of Iris Murdoch, c 1981-c 1995, comprising letters to Sugana Ramanathan, responding initially to Ramanathan's letter expressing interest in Murdoch's books, which later developed into a literary friendship. The letters discuss Jesuits and a Jesuit College (presumably in India) and Murdoch's interest in this, as she has had 'many highly intelligent Jesuit pupils'; describe their first meeting, and reflect on Murdoch's works including the Gifford lectures.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

Arranged in original order.

Conditions governing access:

Open. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Contact archive for information concerning reproduction at archives@kingston.ac.uk.

Finding aids:

Catalogued, not currently available online.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Acquired in 2004.

Allied Materials

Related material:

Peter Conradi Research Collection: KUAS6/3/124, KUAS37, KUAS35, KUAS12, KUAS50, KUAS8, KUAS11, KUAS28, KUAS7, KUAS10, KUAS39.

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Sources: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online and Peter Conradi Research Collection: KUAS6/3/124.
Entry compiled by Samantha Velumyl, AIM25 cataloguer.

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
May 2008.