Iris Murdoch, The Time of the Angels

Tammy Grimshaw (Universidad de Jaen)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Kerry Myler (Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1966

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

The Time of the Angels was heavily influenced by Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy and likewise contrasts the Apollonian world of reason, clarity and morality with the Dionysian realm of irrationality, emotionalism and formlessness. Murdoch portrays this conflict in her characterisations of the two male protagonists, Marcus Fisher, a headmaster who is a Platonist and writer of a Nietzschean-style treatise on moral philosophy entitled “Morality in a World without God” (19), and his older brother Carel Fisher, an Anglican cleric who professes “to be the priest of no God” (182). In this novel, Murdoch plays out the central concern of her moral philosophy, namely the search for meaning in a world without God. …

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2070 words

Citation: Grimshaw, Tammy. "The Time of the Angels". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 February 2004 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=10025, accessed 24 November 2024.]

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