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The Sacred And Profane Love Machine

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( 1,661 ratings, 196 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Montague Small, a writer haunted by his late wife’s possible infidelity, struggles with failed meditation and disdain for his own fictional detective. His sole solace lies in his interest in his neighbour Blaise Gavender, an amateur psychotherapist wrestling with self-awareness and moral courage. Blaise’s wife Harriet lives devotedly for love, including a fondness for Montague. Meanwhile, Emily McHugh pursues love, justice, and revenge, entangled with her friend Constance Pinn as her disturbed son Luca becomes a focal point of conflict between possessive women. Scholar Edgar Demornay, who admires Montague, adds complexity by falling for Montague’s women. A violent act eventually resolves many tensions in this exploration of sacred and profane love, and a man’s fraught dependence on two women that leaves him unsatisfied.
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

The Sacred And Profane Love Machine will appeal to readers interested in complex emotional dramas and psychological explorations of love and honesty. Fans of literary fiction that delves into moral ambiguity and human relationships will find this narrative compelling.

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Blaise's wife Harriet lives for love, love of her husband, love of her son. She too lives for love: for love and justice and revenge, aided and incited by her ambiguous friend Constance Pinn. he adores Monty and falls in love with Monty's women.

'Iris Murdoch is incapable of writing without fascinating and beautiful colour' The Times 20021018

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Montague Small, an obsessive writer of detective thrillers, mourns his lately dead wife, who may or may not have been unfaithful to him. His attempts at meditation are a failure. He detests his fictional detective. His interest in his neighbour's difficulties and his neighbour's wife appear to be his only consolations after all.

The neighbour, Blaise Gavender, is an amateur psychotherapist who has seen through himself. Has Blaise the courage to change his life and become an honest man? What is honesty in any case? Blaise's wife Harriet lives for love: love of her husband, love of her son. She is fond of Monty too. Emily McHugh is quite another matter. She too lives for love: for love and justice and revenge, aided and incited by her ambiguous friend Constance Pinn.

Emily's son Luca, a very disturbed child, becomes the subject of a tug of war between two possessive women. Edgar Demornay, a distinguished scholar, also blunders into the fray; he adores Monty and falls in love with Monty's women. A deed of violence finally solves many problems.

This is a story of different loves; and of how a man may need two women in such a way that he can be happy with neither. Sacred and profane love are related opposites; the one enjoyed renders the other necessary, so that the ever unsatisfied heart swings constantly to and fro.

The Sacred And Profane Love Machine by Iris Murdoch offers a compelling exploration of the complexities of love and the human heart.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780099433576

Publisher: Vintage Publishing

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 06 February 2003

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Vintage Classics

Contributors:

  • Introduction by Elaine Feinstein
  • Introduction by Elaine Feinstein

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 20.0mm

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 246g

Pages: 352

About the Author

Iris Murdoch was born in Dublin in 1919. She read Classics at Somerville College, Oxford, and after working in the Treasury and abroad, was awarded a research studentship in Philosophy at Newnham College, Cambridge. In 1948 she returned to Oxford as fellow and tutor at St Anne's College and later taught at the Royal College of Art. Until her death in 1999, she lived in Oxford with her husband, the academic and critic, John Bayley. She was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1987 and in the 1997 PEN Awards received the Gold Pen for Distinguished Service to Literature.

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