Let The Other Speak: Self And The Other In Iris Murdoch’s Writing

Iris Murdoch (1919-1999) is a famous British female writer, enioving a world reputation. This thesis focuses on the relationship between "self" and "the other" she presented through her novels and her philosophy. Self and the other is not only an important theme in Murdoch’s novels, but also a hidden idea behind her writing technique."Solipsism" is the problem Murdoch faced with, the other’s intrusion is the solution figured out by Murdoch. The means by which Murdoch lets the other "step into" self s solipsistic world and further "speak" is the developing line of this thesis. The thesis starts from Murdoch’s philosophic thinking on two kinds of solipsism. This thinking influences her fiction writing, but her understanding on solipsism is far beyond that. For example, she absorbs Freud’s thinking of the "selfish psyche" to enrich her knowledge of solipsism.The other should be measured on two levels. The "Other" is the social power out of self, this power pushes the self into the realistic world. During this process, self liberates from solipsism, this part’s discussion is based on Murdoch’s thinking on dualism between mind and object; the "other" is other people, Murdoch’s "sublime" emphasizes on "a vast and varied reality outside ourselves", to be more specific,"our surrounding as consisting of other individual men". The recognition of other individual men’s existence is the most effective way to deal with solipsism.The first chapter elaborates on various forms of solipsism in Murdoch’s writing, including her philosophy revolved around "the Ordinary Man" and "the Totalitarian Man", her novel characters influenced by her philosophy, other kinds of solipsistic persons-Terry Eagleton’s explanation of "sentimentalism" also explains her self-centered characters. The second chapter discusses the ways by which the other enters self s world, this chapter consists of three parts. The first part probes into society-the "Other", money and space are two crucial factors to connect self with society. The second part focuses on contingency, as one of contingency forms, accident is used by Murdoch in novels to force self to accept other people. The third part analyses author and character relationship:Murdoch attempts to portray characters independent of herself by using certain writing techniques, such as unreliable narrator, limited omniscient narrator, shift and expansion of narrative focalizations, heteroglossia and so on.The third chapter discusses the detailed relationship between self and the other. The other’s existence is crucial for self s recognition of himself as well as his world view. However, it does not mean that self and the other could always live in harmony. In Murdoch’ s novels, the community (the Other) featured by socialism is hidden with the danger to oppress individual’s personal development, besides, it exercises limited influence-even negative effect on self. Murdoch’s novels are full of people, and the relationships among them are always featured by conflicts, misunderstandings and oppositions. In Murdoch’s opinion, the other is ultimately unknown to the self, respect and love therefore serve as two important principles while facing other individuals different from self.