Coleção GB 2108 KUAS28 - Murdoch, Iris (1919-1999): Letters to Janine Canan

1 folder

GB 2108 KUAS28 1984-1996 collection 1 folder Murdoch , Dame , Jean Iris , 1919-1999 , author x Murdoch , Iris

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.

Janine Canan was born in Los Angeles 2 November 1942; educated at Stanford and received an MD from New York University School of Medicine; working as a practising psychiatrist in Sonoma, California. She wrote many books of poetry including In the Palace of Creation: Selected Works 1969-1999 (Scars 2003).

Acquired in 2004.

Papers of Iris Murdoch, 1984-1996, comprising photocopies of correspondence from Murdoch to Janine Canan, discussing arrangements for meeting, thanking her for various gifts, asking after Canan's poetry writing, reflecting upon the death of Murdoch's mother and remarking on Canan's work as a poet and essayist.

Arranged in chronological order.

Open. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment.

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

English

No additional finding aids currently exist.

The originals are currently held by Janine Canan but will eventually be transferred to Canan's archive at the University of Iowa.

KUAS37, KUAS35, KUAS12, KUAS50, KUAS8, KUAS11, KUAS7, KUAS9, KUAS10, KUAS39.

Sources: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online.
Entry compiled by Samantha Velumyl, AIM25 cataloguer.

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.

May 2008. Canan , Janine , fl 1984-1996 , psychiatrist and poet Death Life cycle Literary forms and genres Literature Murdoch , Dame , Jean Iris , 1919-1999 , author x Murdoch , Iris Poetry

Acquired in 2004.

Papers of Iris Murdoch, 1984-1996, comprising photocopies of correspondence from Murdoch to Janine Canan, discussing arrangements for meeting, thanking her for various gifts, asking after Canan's poetry writing, reflecting upon the death of Murdoch's mother and remarking on Canan's work as a poet and essayist.

Arranged in chronological order.

Open. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment.

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

• inglês

• latim

English

KUAS37, KUAS35, KUAS12, KUAS50, KUAS8, KUAS11, KUAS7, KUAS9, KUAS10, KUAS39.

No additional finding aids currently exist.

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.

• inglês