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The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch is one of my favorite novels of hers and also one of her most renowned works. Its follow-up, Nuns and Soldiers, is much less well-known. While it doesn't quite reach the heights of its predecessor, it is still well worth reading and is more engaging than some of her later novels.
Nuns and Soldiers begins with a deathbed scene where Guy Openshaw tells his wife Gertrude that she should remarry. Gertrude is reluctant, feeling it would be a betrayal. However, soon after Guy's death, she unexpectedly falls in love with a much younger, poverty-stricken painter named Tim Reede. This shocks her friends, partly due to snobbish reasons and partly because they suspect Tim is after her money. Their suspicions seem confirmed when they discover that Tim had hidden from Gertrude the fact that he was already in a long-term (albeit informal) relationship when they met. Murdoch makes it clear that Tim truly fell for Gertrude and hid the relationship out of embarrassment, but this is not how it appears to Gertrude's friends or eventually to Gertrude herself, leading to everyone's misery.
The title Nuns and Soldiers may seem strange at first. There is a literal nun in the story, Gertrude's friend Anne, who has recently left an enclosed order after losing her faith. However, there are no real soldiers. The distinction seems to be more between passive and active characters, with nuns and soldiers being traditional archetypes of each. Most characters in the novel move along the spectrum from one to the other (and back again), and the reader is shown that the characters' self-perception doesn't always match their actual position.
Nuns and Soldiers is not a happy novel, but it is a good one. It may not have the same impact as The Sea, the Sea, perhaps because it starts with a deathbed scene and also because there is a fair amount of philosophical discussion in the early chapters. There are both emotional and intellectual hurdles for the reader to overcome before getting into the story. The transformation of Tim Reede's character throughout the novel is interesting, but some of the lesser characters are either very ordinary or have odd things done to them by the author. The Polish man nicknamed "the Count" is an example; Murdoch seems unsure about how important a role he should play. Despite being conceptually challenging, the novel is made accessible by Murdoch's style, which keeps the story flowing. What I particularly enjoy about the novel are the scenes where characters discuss others behind their backs, which, although incidental to the plot, reveal a great deal about their relationships and perceptions of each other. Originally published on my blog here in April 2005. The Sea, the Sea is one of my favourite Murdoch novels and one of her most famous; its follow-up is much less well known. It doesn't quite equal its predecessor, but it is well worth reading, more so than her later novels. Nuns and Soldiers begins on a deathbed; Guy Openshaw tells his wife that she should marry again. She is reluctant to do this, feeling that it would be a betrayal, but then, quite soon after Guy's death, Gertrude falls unexpectedly in love with a much younger man, a poverty stricken painter. This horrifies her friends, partly for snobbish reqasons and partly because they assume that Tim Reede is really after Gertrude's money. When they discover that Tim had hidden from Gertrude the fact that he was already in a long term (if informal) relationship when he met her, they feel that their suspicions have been confirmed. Murdoch makes it clear that he really did fall for Gertrude and that he hid the relationship from pure embarrassment, but that is not how it looks to Gertrude's friends or (eventually) to Gertrude, and succeeds in making everybody miserable. So why the rather strange title? There is a literal nun in the story, Gertrude's friend Anne, who has recently left an enclosed order after losing her faith. On the other hand, there are no real soldiers. The distinction seems to be more between passive and active characters, with nuns and soldiers being traditional archetypes of each. Most characters in this novel move from one to the other end of the spectrum (and back again), and the reader is also shown that the characters' self perception does not always match their position. Nuns and Soldiers is not a happy novel, but it is a good one. It doesn't have quite the impact of The Sea, The Sea, possibly because it starts with a death bed scene and possibly because a fair amount of philosophical discussion is presented in the early chapters: there are both emotional and intellectual hurdles to get over before a reader can get into the story itself. The transformation of Tim Reede's character throughout the novel is interesting, but on the other hand some of the less characters are either very ordinary or have odd things done to them by the author. The Polish man nicknamed "the Count" is an example; Murdoch seems to vacillate about just how important a part he should play. (This is actually quite clever, as real relationships ebb and flow in ways normally drastically simplified in fiction.) Though it is fairly hard work on the conceptual level, Nuns and Soldies is made accessible by Murdoch's style, which keeps the story flowing along. What I particularly like about the novel are the scenes when characters discuss others behind their backs, which may be incidental to the plot but which say a lot about their relationships and perceptions of each other.
Nuns and Soldiers begins with a deathbed scene where Guy Openshaw tells his wife Gertrude that she should remarry. Gertrude is reluctant, feeling it would be a betrayal. However, soon after Guy's death, she unexpectedly falls in love with a much younger, poverty-stricken painter named Tim Reede. This shocks her friends, partly due to snobbish reasons and partly because they suspect Tim is after her money. Their suspicions seem confirmed when they discover that Tim had hidden from Gertrude the fact that he was already in a long-term (albeit informal) relationship when they met. Murdoch makes it clear that Tim truly fell for Gertrude and hid the relationship out of embarrassment, but this is not how it appears to Gertrude's friends or eventually to Gertrude herself, leading to everyone's misery.
The title Nuns and Soldiers may seem strange at first. There is a literal nun in the story, Gertrude's friend Anne, who has recently left an enclosed order after losing her faith. However, there are no real soldiers. The distinction seems to be more between passive and active characters, with nuns and soldiers being traditional archetypes of each. Most characters in the novel move along the spectrum from one to the other (and back again), and the reader is shown that the characters' self-perception doesn't always match their actual position.
Nuns and Soldiers is not a happy novel, but it is a good one. It may not have the same impact as The Sea, the Sea, perhaps because it starts with a deathbed scene and also because there is a fair amount of philosophical discussion in the early chapters. There are both emotional and intellectual hurdles for the reader to overcome before getting into the story. The transformation of Tim Reede's character throughout the novel is interesting, but some of the lesser characters are either very ordinary or have odd things done to them by the author. The Polish man nicknamed "the Count" is an example; Murdoch seems unsure about how important a role he should play. Despite being conceptually challenging, the novel is made accessible by Murdoch's style, which keeps the story flowing. What I particularly enjoy about the novel are the scenes where characters discuss others behind their backs, which, although incidental to the plot, reveal a great deal about their relationships and perceptions of each other. Originally published on my blog here in April 2005. The Sea, the Sea is one of my favourite Murdoch novels and one of her most famous; its follow-up is much less well known. It doesn't quite equal its predecessor, but it is well worth reading, more so than her later novels. Nuns and Soldiers begins on a deathbed; Guy Openshaw tells his wife that she should marry again. She is reluctant to do this, feeling that it would be a betrayal, but then, quite soon after Guy's death, Gertrude falls unexpectedly in love with a much younger man, a poverty stricken painter. This horrifies her friends, partly for snobbish reqasons and partly because they assume that Tim Reede is really after Gertrude's money. When they discover that Tim had hidden from Gertrude the fact that he was already in a long term (if informal) relationship when he met her, they feel that their suspicions have been confirmed. Murdoch makes it clear that he really did fall for Gertrude and that he hid the relationship from pure embarrassment, but that is not how it looks to Gertrude's friends or (eventually) to Gertrude, and succeeds in making everybody miserable. So why the rather strange title? There is a literal nun in the story, Gertrude's friend Anne, who has recently left an enclosed order after losing her faith. On the other hand, there are no real soldiers. The distinction seems to be more between passive and active characters, with nuns and soldiers being traditional archetypes of each. Most characters in this novel move from one to the other end of the spectrum (and back again), and the reader is also shown that the characters' self perception does not always match their position. Nuns and Soldiers is not a happy novel, but it is a good one. It doesn't have quite the impact of The Sea, The Sea, possibly because it starts with a death bed scene and possibly because a fair amount of philosophical discussion is presented in the early chapters: there are both emotional and intellectual hurdles to get over before a reader can get into the story itself. The transformation of Tim Reede's character throughout the novel is interesting, but on the other hand some of the less characters are either very ordinary or have odd things done to them by the author. The Polish man nicknamed "the Count" is an example; Murdoch seems to vacillate about just how important a part he should play. (This is actually quite clever, as real relationships ebb and flow in ways normally drastically simplified in fiction.) Though it is fairly hard work on the conceptual level, Nuns and Soldies is made accessible by Murdoch's style, which keeps the story flowing along. What I particularly like about the novel are the scenes when characters discuss others behind their backs, which may be incidental to the plot but which say a lot about their relationships and perceptions of each other.
