An Iris Murdoch Walk

Iris Murdoch was a notable philosopher and novelist, who lived in Oxford, attending Somerville College as an undergraduate and later teaching philosophy at St Anne’s College. She had many exciting and sustaining relationships with notable Oxford people, such as Franz Steiner, Frank Thompson, her husband John Bayley and Philippa Foot, Mary Midgeley and Elizabeth Anscombe. She was a youthful member oft he Communist Party in Oxford and lived in a variety of homes in Oxford.

Meeting outside Corpus Christi College, Merton Street at 14.00, this walk revisits places where she lived and worked. We will visit her home in Charlbury Road where for many years she wrote her letters, novels and philosophical works. Pubs like The Rose and Crown and the Lamb and Flag, where she met with friends and talked philosophy, politics and personal issues. Somerville College, where she was an undergraduate with Philippa Foot, and St Anne’s College where she taught philosophy in a lively way. Along the way, Gary Browning, author of Why Iris Murdoch Matters and Iris Murdoch and the Political will share thoughts on Murdoch’s thinking and writing. All questions will be answered, Murdoch is a notable thinker and writer of the twentieth century and a remarkable Oxford character. Come along and share her world.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Corpus Christi College, Merton Street, Oxford, United Kingdom