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Charles Arrowby, leading light of England's theatrical set, retires from glittering London to an isolated home by the sea. He plans to write a memoir about his great love affair with Clement Makin, his mentor, both professionally and personally, and amuse himself with Lizzie, an actress he has strung along for many years. None of his plans work out, and his memoir evolves into a riveting chronicle of the strange events and unexpected visitors-some real, some spectral-that disrupt his world and shake his oversized ego to its very core.
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Iris Murdoch
THE SEA, THE SEA
Iris Murdoch was born in Dublin of Anglo-Irish parents. She went to Badminton School, Bristol, and read classics at Somerville College, Oxford. During the war she was an Assistant Principal at the Treasury, and then worked with U.N.R.R.A. in London, Belgium and Austria. She held a studentship in philosophy at Newnham College, Cambridge, for a year, and in 1948 returned to teach philosophy in Oxford as a Fellow of St Anne’s College. In 1956 she married John Bayley, teacher and critic. She was awarded the C.B.E in 1976 and made a D.B.E in the 1987 New Year’s Honours List. Her other novels are Under the Net (1954), The Flight from the Enchanter (1955), The Sandcastle (1957), The Bell (1958), A Severed Head (1961), An Unofficial Rose (1962), The Unicorn (1963), The Italian Girl (1964), The Red and the Green (1965), The Time of the Angels (1966), The Nice and the Good (1968), Bruno’s Dream (1969), A Fairly Honourable Defeat (1970), An Accidental Man (1971), The Black Prince (1973), winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, The Sacred and Profane Love Machine (1974), winner of the Whitbread Prize, A Word Child (1975), Henry and Cato (1976), Nuns and Soldiers (1980), The Philosopher’s Pupil (1983), The Good Apprentice (1985) and The Book and the Brotherhood (1987), both shortlisted for the Booker Prize. She has also written The Fire and the Sun: Why Plato Banished the Artist (1977), based on her 1976 Romanes lectures, A Year of the Birds (1978), a volume of poetry, and Acastos: Two Platonic Dialogues (1986). Sartre: Romantic Rationalist, first published in 1953, was reissued in 1987 with a new introduction by the author.
By the same Author * UNDER THE NET THE FLIGHT FROM THE ENCHANTER THE SANDCASTLE THE BELL A SEVERED HEAD AN UNOFFICIAL ROSE THE UNICORN THE ITALIAN GIRL THE RED AND THE GREEN THE TIME OF THE ANGELS THE NICE AND THE GOOD BRUNO’S DREAM A FAIRLY HONOURABLE DEFEAT AN ACCIDENTAL MAN THE BLACK PRINCE THE SACRED AND PROFANE LOVE MACHINE A WORD CHILD HENRY AND CATO NUNS AND SOLDIERS THE PHILOSOPHER’S PUPIL THE GOOD APPRENTICE
Plays
A SEVERED HEAD (with J. B. Priestley) THE THREE ARROWS and THE SERVANTS AND THE SNOW
Philosophy
SARTRE, ROMANTIC RATIONALIST THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOOD THE FIRE AND THE SUN
IRIS MURDOCH
PENGUIN BOOKS
PENGUIN BOOKS Published by the Penguin Group 27 Wrights Lane, London W8 5TZ, England Viking Penguin Inc., 40 West 23rd Street, New York, New York 10010, USA Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 2801 John Street, Markham, Ontario, Canada L3R 1B4 Penguin Books (NZ) Ltd, 182-190 Wairau Road, Auckland 10, New Zealand
Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England
First published in Great Britain by Chatto & Windus 1978 First published in the United States of America by The Viking Press 1978 Published in Penguin Books 1980 7 9 10 8 6
Copyright © Iris Murdoch, 1978 All rights reserved
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA Murdoch, Iris The sea, the sea. Reprint of the 1978 ed. published by Viking Press,
New York. I. Title. [PZ4.M974Sd 1980] [PR6063.U7] 823’.914 80-11380 ISBN 0 14 00.5199 6
Printed and bound i