695. The Sea, The Sea

The Sea, The Sea
Iris Murdoch
1978

Around 500 pages

I absolutely adore Iris Murdoch, and when I have served my sentence for this List, my next goal will be to read everything in her oeuvre. Unfortunately, there is a lot of Thomas Pynchon to go before that happy day arrives. Sadly, this is her last entry on the List, but at least she is leaving us with a masterpiece of a novel.

Charles Arrowby is an accomplished playwright and director, settling down to write his memoirs. He decides to live in a house by the sea while he writes, and encounters his old childhood love, Mary Hartley Fitch. Charles becomes obsessed with her, even though she hasn't aged particularly well and she is married.

Unreliable narrators are disastrous if handled incorrectly. I was in awe of the way Nabokov handled point of view in Lolita. Somehow, with Nabokov at the helm, it was bearable to remain in Humbert Humbert's head for longer than eight minutes before having to stop the ride. And Murdoch does the same thing here. Our narrator has a very different read on his own behavior from everybody else in the story, and the reader understands that despite Charles' self-justifying commentary. Characteristically, the story is also peppered with literary and historical allusions, and brilliant descriptions about the environment. 

This ranking is a tough one for sure:

1. The Sea, The Sea

2. The Black Prince
3. The Bell

4. Under the Net

5. A Severed Head

6. The Nice and the Good

Thank you for your existence Iris. Please don't leave me here alone. 

RATING: *****

Interesting Facts:

According to Xenophon's Anabasis, "The Sea! The Sea!" (Thalatta! Thalatta!) was the shout of exultation given by the roaming 10,000 Greeks when, in 401 BC, they caught sight of the Black Sea from Mount Theches in Trebizond and realized they were saved from death.

Won the Booker Prize, obviously. Have you seen the other entries lately?

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