Elegy for Iris - Hardcover

Bayley, John

3.71

2,946 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0783885644 ISBN 13: 9780783885643

Publisher: G K Hall & Co, 1999

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"I was living in a fairy story - the kind with sinister overtones and not always a happy ending - in which a young man loves a beautiful maiden who returns his love but is always disappearing into some unknown and mysterious world, about which she will reveal nothing,"

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Review:

In one of literary history's ghastlier ironies, Iris Murdoch, the author of such highly intellectual and philosophical novels as A Severed Head and Under the Net, was diagnosed in 1994 with Alzheimer's disease, which slowly destroys reasoning powers, memory, even the ability to speak coherently. Her husband, English literary critic John Bayley, unsparingly depicts his wife's affliction in prose as elegant and accessible as hers always was. Readers may wince at the spectacle of Murdoch glued to the TV watching the Teletubbies program, unable to perform tasks as simple as dressing herself and prey to devastating anxiety as the world becomes less and less comprehensible to her. We understand Bayley's occasional fits of rage when his caretaking chores overwhelm him. Yet in the end his memoir is touching, even inspiring. As he recalls their first meetings and marriage in the 1950s, it becomes clear that theirs was always an unconventional union, in which solitude was as important to each of them as togetherness and Bayley was content to let Murdoch keep her inner life to herself. He loves Iris, the woman, not the intellect, and he conveys an essential sweetness about his wife that endures even as her mental faculties deteriorate. This totally unsentimental account of their life and her illness is nonetheless a heartbreaker. --Wendy Smith

From the Publisher:

"This splendid book enlarges our imagination of the range and possibilities of love." --Mary Gordon, The New York Times

"Without a hint of sentimentality, treats hopelessly sad things in a manner that celebrates eternal human verity...Magnificently, hauntingly humane." --Michael Pakenham, The Baltimore Sun

"Bayley's restrained and elegant love song to his wife of 42 years...is beautiful and heartbreaking. Full of spirit, generous and resilient." --Gail Caldwell, The Boston Globe

"A heart-melting love story and an erudite inquiry into the nature of personality, memory, and invention. Wise and full of grace." --Shelby Hearon, The Chicago Tribune

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