Margins
The Iris Trilogy book cover 1
The Iris Trilogy book cover 2
The Iris Trilogy book cover 3
The Iris Trilogy
Series · 3 books · 1998-2001

Books in series

Iris book cover
#1

Iris

A Memoir of Iris Murdoch

1998

With remarkable tenderness, John Bayley recreates his passionate love affair with Iris Murdoch—world-renowned writer and philosopher, and his wife of forty-two years—and poignantly describes the dimming of her brilliance due to Alzheimer's disease. Elegy for Iris is a story about the ephemeral beauty of youth and the sobering reality of what it means to grow old, but its ultimate power is that Bayley discovers great hope and joy in his celebration of Iris' life and their love. In its grasp of life's frailty and its portrayal of one of the great literary romances of this century, Elegy for Iris is a mesmerizing work of art that will be read for generations.
Iris and Her Friends book cover
#2

Iris and Her Friends

1999

The husband of Iris Murdoch and author of Elegy for Iris, follows up his moving memoir of his wife's struggle with memory loss by recalling his own past, describing vivid scenes of his childhood in colonial India, his vacations on the English coast, his early love of literature, and his romance with Iris.
Widower's House book cover
#3

Widower's House

2001

With this volume, John Bayley completes his trilogy, looking back on the years in sickness and health which he and Iris spent together, and attempting to come to terms with her absence. As time goes by he finds himself beset with new and alarmingly unfamiliar problems: he suffers equally from the helplessness of being alone and the kindly harassment of well-wishers; discovering too that a widower's life can contain many moments of bizarre comedy.

Author

John Bayley
John Bayley
Author · 9 books

Professor John Bayley CBE, FBA, FRSL was a British literary critic and writer. Bayley was born in Lahore, British India, and educated at Eton, where he studied under G. W. Lyttelton, who also taught Aldous Huxley, J.B.S. Haldane, George Orwell and Cyril Connolly. After leaving Eton, he went on to take a degree at New College, Oxford. From 1974 to 1992, Bayley was Warton Professor of English at Oxford. He is also a novelist and writes literary criticism for several newspapers. He edited Henry James' The Wings of the Dove and a two-volume selection of James' short stories. From 1956 until her death in 1999, he was married to the writer Dame Iris Murdoch. When she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, he wrote the book Iris: A Memoir of Iris Murdoch, which was made into the 2001 film Iris by Richard Eyre. In this film, Bayley was portrayed in his early years by Hugh Bonneville, and in his later years by Jim Broadbent, who won an Oscar for the performance. After Murdoch's death he married Audi Villers, a family friend. He was awarded the CBE in 1999.

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