Iris Murdoch: A Life: The Authorized BiographyA full and revealing biography of one of the centurys greatest English writers and an icon to a generation. Dame Iris Murdoch has played a major role in English life and letter for nearly half a century. As A. S. Byatt notes, she is absolutely central to our culture. As a novelist, as a thinker, and as a private individual, her life has significance for our age. There is a recognisable Murdoch world, and the adjective Murdochian has entered the