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An Accidental Man
''An Accidental Man'' is a novel by Iris Murdoch, which was published in 1971. It was her fourteenth novel. The complex story is set in London and involves a large number of characters, many of whom are related to each other by family or marriage. The "accidental man" is the hapless but charming Austin Gibson Grey, whose actions drive much of the plot. His long-estranged wealthy older brother, recently retired to England after a career spent abroad, is drawn into covering up Austin's misdeeds and accidents. A second plot line involves Ludwig Leferrier, a young American academic who has resolved to stay in England in order to avoid the draft, but struggles with his decision throughout the book. The book's main moral theme is the individual's responsibility to others. Coincidence and accident play a major role in the plot, in which the efforts of supposedly well-meaning characters to help each other often fail, while others fail to act when they could be of help. ''An Accidental ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iris Murdoch
Dame Jean Iris Murdoch ( ; 15 July 1919 – 8 February 1999) was an Irish and British novelist and philosopher. Murdoch is best known for her novels about good and evil, sexual relationships, morality, and the power of the unconscious. Her first published novel, '' Under the Net'' (1954), was selected in 1998 as one of Modern Library's 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. Her 1978 novel ''The Sea, the Sea'' won the Booker Prize. In 1987, she was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II for services to literature. In 2008, ''The Times'' ranked Murdoch twelfth on a list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". Her other books include '' The Bell'' (1958), '' A Severed Head'' (1961), ''The Red and the Green'' (1965), ''The Nice and the Good'' (1968), ''The Black Prince'' (1973), ''Henry and Cato'' (1976), '' The Philosopher's Pupil'' (1983), '' The Good Apprentice'' (1985), ''The Book and the Brotherhood'' (1987), '' The Message to the Planet'' (1989), and '' T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The New York Times Book Review
''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely read book review publications in the industry. The offices are located near Times Square in New York City. Overview The ''New York Times'' has published a book review section since October 10, 1896, announcing: "We begin today the publication of a Supplement which contains reviews of new books ... and other interesting matter ... associated with news of the day." In 1911, the review was moved to Sundays, on the theory that it would be more appreciatively received by readers with a bit of time on their hands. The target audience is an intelligent, general-interest adult reader. The ''Times'' publishes two versions each week, one with a cover price sold via subscription, bookstores and newsstands; the other with no cover price included as an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1971 British Novels
* The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events January * January 2 – 66 people are killed and over 200 injured during a crush in Glasgow, Scotland. * January 5 – The first ever One Day International cricket match is played between Australia and England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. * January 8 – Tupamaros kidnap Geoffrey Jackson, British ambassador to Uruguay, in Montevideo, keeping him captive until September. * January 9 – Uruguayan president Jorge Pacheco Areco demands emergency powers for 90 days due to kidnappings, and receives them the next day. * January 12 – The landmark United States television sitcom ''All in the Family'', starring Carroll O'Connor as Archie Bunker, debuts on CBS. * January 14 – Seventy Brazilian political prisoners a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Fairly Honourable Defeat
''A Fairly Honourable Defeat'' is a novel by the British writer and philosopher Iris Murdoch. Published in 1970, it was her thirteenth novel. Plot summary The lives of several friends are thrown into disarray by the machinations of Julius King. Julius makes a bet with his ex-girlfriend Morgan that he can break up the homosexual couple Axel and Simon; meanwhile, Morgan and her brother-in-law Rupert are tricked into embarking on an affair, and Morgan's nephew Peter is falling in love with her. Characters *Julius King, academic biochemist *Rupert Foster, his former colleague, a senior civil servant writing a book on living morally *Hilda Foster, Rupert's wife *Simon Foster, Rupert's brother *Axel Nilsson, Rupert's colleague and Simon's partner *Morgan Browne, Tallis' wife, Julius's rejected lover and Hilda's sister *Tallis Browne, Morgan's estranged husband *Peter Foster, Rupert and Hilda's son *Leonard Browne, Tallis's father Major themes The story hinges on the wager that com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Awkward Age
''The Awkward Age'' is a novel by Henry James, first published as a serial in ''Harper's Weekly'' in 1898–1899 and then as a book later in 1899. Originally conceived as a brief, light story about the complications created in her family's social set by a young girl coming of age, the novel expanded into a general treatment of decadence and corruption in English ''fin de siècle'' life. Plot summary Mr. and Mrs. Edward Brookenham host an effete, rather corrupt social circle. They are the parents of worthless Harold and sweet but knowledgeable Nanda (age eighteen). Mr. Longdon attends one of their social functions and is amazed at how much Nanda resembles her grandmother, his long-ago love who married another man. Vanderbank, a young civil servant with little money, admires both Mrs. Brookenham (nicknamed "Mrs. Brook") and Nanda. Mrs. Brook seems to want an affair with "Van" but he appears more interested in Nanda. Mr. Longdon promises him a dowry if he marries Nanda. Mrs. Br ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry James
Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the son of Henry James Sr. and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James. He is best known for his novels dealing with the social and marital interplay between ''émigré ''Americans, English people, and continental Europeans. Examples of such novels include '' The Portrait of a Lady'', ''The Ambassadors'', and ''The Wings of the Dove''. His later works were increasingly experimental. In describing the internal states of mind and social dynamics of his characters, James often wrote in a style in which ambiguous or contradictory motives and impressions were overlaid or juxtaposed in the discussion of a character's psyche. For their unique ambiguity, as well as for other aspects of their composition, his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter J
Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) Culture * Peter (actor) (born 1952), stage name Shinnosuke Ikehata, Japanese dancer and actor * ''Peter'' (album), a 1993 EP by Canadian band Eric's Trip * ''Peter'' (1934 film), a 1934 film directed by Henry Koster * ''Peter'' (2021 film), Marathi language film * "Peter" (''Fringe'' episode), an episode of the television series ''Fringe'' * ''Peter'' (novel), a 1908 book by Francis Hopkinson Smith * "Peter" (short story), an 1892 short story by Willa Cather Animals * Peter, the Lord's cat, cat at Lord's Cricket Ground in London * Peter (chief mouser), Chief Mouser between 1929 and 1946 * Peter II (cat), Chief Mouser between 1946 and 1947 * Peter III (cat), Chief Mouser between 1947 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joyce Carol Oates
Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and non-fiction. Her novels '' Black Water'' (1992), ''What I Lived For'' (1994), and ''Blonde'' (2000), and her short story collections ''The Wheel of Love'' (1970) and ''Lovely, Dark, Deep: Stories'' (2014) were each finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. She has won many awards for her writing, including the National Book Award, for her novel ''them'' (1969), two O. Henry Awards, the National Humanities Medal, and the Jerusalem Prize (2019). Oates taught at Princeton University from 1978 to 2014, and is the Roger S. Berlind '52 Professor Emerita in the Humanities with the Program in Creative Writing. Since 2016, she has been a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley, where she teaches short fiction in the spring semesters. Oates was elected to the A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nora Sayre
Nora Clemens Sayre (September 20, 1932 – August 8, 2001) was an American film critic and essayist. She was a reviewer of films for ''The New York Times'' in the 1970s, and, from 1981, a writing teacher for many years at Columbia University. She specialised in the Cold War and authored books such as ''Running Time: Films of the Cold War'' (1982) in which she examined Hollywood movie-making in the 1950s. Personal life Born in Hamilton, Bermuda, her father was Joel Sayre of ''The New Yorker''; family friends were A. J. Liebling and Edmund Wilson. She attended Friends Seminary, and was a graduate of Radcliffe College. A mentor was the English critic and book reviewer John Davenport; he had become acquainted with the Sayre family whilst working as a screenwriter at MGM, when she was a child, and would later visit the adult Sayre with suggestions of things she should read and about which she should write. Sayre noted "after a dose of Davenport, one was all the more responsive ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chatto & Windus
Chatto & Windus is an imprint of Penguin Random House that was formerly an independent book publishing company founded in London in 1855 by John Camden Hotten. Following Hotten's death, the firm would reorganize under the names of his business partner Andrew Chatto and poet William Edward Windus. The company was purchased by Random House in 1987 and is now a sub-imprint of Vintage Books within the Penguin UK division. History The firm developed out of the publishing business of John Camden Hotten, founded in 1855. After his death in 1873, it was sold to Hotten's junior partner Andrew Chatto (1841–1913), who took on the poet William Edward Windus (1827-1910), son of the patron of J. M. W. Turner, Benjamin Godfrey Windus (1790-1867), as partner. Chatto & Windus published Mark Twain, W. S. Gilbert, Wilkie Collins, H. G. Wells, Wyndham Lewis, Richard Aldington, Frederick Rolfe (as Fr. Rolfe), Aldous Huxley, Samuel Beckett, the "unfinished" novel ''Weir of Hermiston'' (1896) by R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Globe And Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it falls slightly behind the ''Toronto Star'' in overall weekly circulation because the ''Star'' publishes a Sunday edition, whereas the ''Globe'' does not. ''The Globe and Mail'' is regarded by some as Canada's " newspaper of record". ''The Globe and Mail''s predecessors, '' The Globe'' and ''The Mail and Empire'' were both established in the 19th century. The former was established in 1844, while the latter was established in 1895 through a merger of ''The Toronto Mail'' and the ''Toronto Empire''. In 1936, ''The Globe'' and ''The Mail and Empire'' merged to form ''The Globe and Mail''. The newspaper was acquired by FP Publications in 1965, who later sold the paper to the Thomson Corporation in 1980. In 2001, the paper merged with broadcast ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anatole Broyard
Anatole Paul Broyard (July 16, 1920 – October 11, 1990) was an American writer, literary critic, and editor who wrote for ''The New York Times''. In addition to his many reviews and columns, he published short stories, essays, and two books during his lifetime. His autobiographical works, ''Intoxicated by My Illness'' (1992) and ''Kafka Was the Rage: A Greenwich Village Memoir'' (1993), were published after his death. Several years after his death, Broyard became the center of controversy when it was revealed that he had " passed" as white despite being a Louisiana Creole of mixed-race ancestry. Life and career Early life Anatole Paul Broyard was born on July 16, 1920, in New Orleans, Louisiana, into a Black Louisiana Creole family, the son of Paul Anatole Broyard, a carpenter and construction worker, and his wife, Edna Miller, neither of whom had finished elementary school. Broyard was descended from ancestors who were established as free people of color before the Civil War. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
