VISUL LUI BRUNO

This is a classic novel; it is psychological, it is mystical, it is an adventure novel, and it is a love story. But it is also a modern novel, even post-modern.

A nonagenarian, Bruno, has been sitting in his room for months. He contemplates his stamp collection and thinks about his life, which now seems like a dream to him. He also reads treatises about spiders, with which he is beginning to resemble - God himself is a spider, with his thin and golden thread we are constantly struggling to hold on, but most of the time we escape - so all the other characters get caught in his web: the son-in-law, the son, the caregiver, the maid.

These characters - beautifully described, are true symbols: the artist, the mediocre, the madman, the escaped - somehow seek - in any way - fulfillment. And, together with the old man/spider, each has his own peculiarity: one has mystical ecstasies and believes he is God, another has three loves at the same time, there is even the beginning of a ménage-à-trois; two are mourning and a cook has the name Odette from Proust.

Obviously, everything ends well, like in Shakespeare, and in the end, what remains?

I am truly grateful that Iris Murdoch made the choice to write. Her books are absolute marvels, filled with beautifully integrated and deeply thought-out ideas regarding philosophy, life, and interconnectedness.

Bruno's Dream is no different. I had believed that I had read every single novel that Murdoch penned, but somehow, I overlooked this loopy, dreamy, and strange end-of-Bruno's-days treatise on living and dying.

Far from being morbid, Bruno's Dream is often funnier than one would anticipate. It follows the eponymous old man on his journey from the brink of dying to death itself, delving into his inner thoughts and the external machinations of those in his sphere of influence.

His dying process is tempestuous, bringing him uneasily back together with his estranged son. The death of his son's first wife had unleashed a flood of poetry that eventually dried up. His wife, her sister, and his son-in-law, in whose house he is waiting for the end, and whose wife, Bruno's daughter, predeceased him, all play a role in this drama.

In their orbit is a trio of cousins who alternate between providing comic relief and adding to the tragedy. Throw in an overflowing Thames and a valuable stamp collection, and you have the makings of Bruno's Dream, a true Murdoch masterpiece.

With the two other Iris Murdoch books I have read, namely The Black Prince and The Unicorn, Bruno's Dream left me in a state of slight confusion at the end.

The Black Prince has remained with me because its ending was so distinct from that of most novels. The Post Dramatis chapters, where the characters had a final opportunity to present their perceptions, did not result in a conclusive outcome. However, it was final in its own way, and nothing more could have been added.

Individual perceptions are at the core of what Murdoch explores. She highlights the unique ways in which people experience their lives. Of course, this is true, but with her works, it seems that we are unable to truly see through the eyes of others as they perceive things so differently from us. I wonder if she believed that true empathy is possible.

Bruno's dream was his life as he had lived it. As he lay dying, he realized that it was just a dream.

"Was it only in the face of death that one could see so clearly what love should be like? If only the knowledge he had now, this absolute certainty that nothing else matters, could somehow go back in time and purify the petty self-loves and untangle the muddles. But it couldn't."

In the three novels I've read, Murdoch's theme is love. It is strange love, sad love, unrequited (or perhaps not?) love. Fortunately for us, we don't analyze our loves so closely.

I need to take some time to think about this book. I will reflect on its lessons. As Bruno realized in his moment of sadness, he learned an important lesson that should not be forgotten. But he was worried that he would forget it, that it would be lost. However, don't we all forget our epiphanies as time passes after our periods of sadness and simply return to our dreams?

I have a deep love for Murdoch's work. It has such a unique charm that I am determined to read all seven of her Booker nominated works before delving into the rest of her bibliography. Her stories are not just about extraordinary events or characters, but rather about the life and loves, passions and jealousies of normal people. It's as if she peels back the layers of our ordinary lives and reveals the complex emotions and relationships that lie beneath. And then there's the added element of a dying man, which adds a touch of poignancy and drama to the narrative. Oh, and let's not forget the stamps! They seem to be a small but significant detail that adds another layer of interest to the story. This work was shortlisted in 1970, which just goes to show its enduring quality and appeal.

Living on Paper: Letters from Iris Murdoch, 1934 - 1995 is a collection that offers a unique insight into the mind of this remarkable author.

Iris: A Memoir of Iris Murdoch provides a personal account of her life, while Iris Murdoch: Dream Girl perhaps delves into the more mysterious aspects of her persona.

Her novels, such as A Severed Head, The Sea, the Sea, The Black Prince, The Bell, Under the Net, The Sandcastle, The Italian Girl, and others like The Sacred and Profane Love Machine, A Fairly Honourable Defeat, The Nice and the Good, The Philosopher's Pupil, Bruno's Dream, The Good Apprentice, and The Red and the Green, are all testaments to her literary prowess.

Each of these works explores different themes and characters, captivating readers with Murdoch's rich and vivid imagination. Her writing style is both engaging and thought-provoking, making her a beloved figure in the world of literature.

No good news can be found here regarding the process of getting old. The story related to Murdoch's life at the end is truly compelling. Surprisingly, stamps play a significant role in the story. They unfortunately lose the war with the Thames. Besides, there are other interesting battles, such as the one with the passage of time. If you have the opportunity, it would be wise to bet on Mother Time; give any odds. Also, the battle with one's inner thoughts and memories is intense. Bruno is constantly bothered by events that took place years ago. This story definitely deserves six stars. Why should we be limited by the rating scale!

Uno a veces se pregunta qué hacemos con el tema de la moral en tiempos de brocha gorda y luchas descarnadas que deben batirse tan solo por poder dar una bocanada de aire.

En estos momentos, no hay espacio para poetas ni para poesía porque no hay tiempo para pararse a contemplar lo que nos rodea mientras todo arde.

No hay belleza en el dolor, en el sufrimiento, en el miedo o en la supervivencia. Quizás, aunque no lo creo, había otros tiempos preteritos más sencillos para un tipo muy, muy particular de gente y era entonces, allí, donde se podía frenar y pararse a oler las margaritas.

Quizás, aunque también no lo creo, era un sitio mejor para un grupo muy, muy reducido de gente. No es que esto vaya de eso, pero un poco sí.

Por supuesto, la maestra de todo esto nos quiere hablar de Platón y del Amor y la Bondad, como en la mayoría de sus novelas, para que al menos nos podamos pensar desde otra perspectiva y entendamos y comprendamos que todos, absolutamente todos, somos gente aristada y confusa.

Somos como entidades que emiten varias sombras distintas porque estamos siendo enfocados por muchas luces simultaneas, luces que dejan espacio para ciertas sombras. Y es en las sombras donde debemos debatir por nuestra propia supervivencia, por descubrirnos a nosotros mismos qué valoramos y qué importa realmente.

Lo siguiente se podría aplicar a todas las novelas después de esta, más o menos: estas novelas tienen un ritmo endiablado, hipnótico y único.

La exploración interna tiene su contraparte en los diálogos con otros, aquí siempre un uno contra uno, que les lleva a enfrentarse realmente a aquello que no quieren ver. No hay acotaciones, tan solo un flujo constante de diálogos.

Esto genera un extraño trance, donde saltamos entre psiques de personajes y entre los dentros y los fueras de estos, donde los vemos cómo quieren ser y cómo los ven los demás.

Aquí hay algo que se desarrollará por mil en otras historias similares, pero quizás un poco más encapsulado, un tanto más reducido a su esencia más directa y sincera - Nos deseamos en los aspectos menos buenos de nosotros mismos.

Honestly, I still find myself at a loss when it comes to truly understanding this book. However, there are several thought-provoking quotes within it that I feel compelled to share with you.

The first quote, "It was a mere convention after all that one ought to be on good terms with one's son or father. Sons and fathers were individuals and should be paid the compliment of being treated as such. Why should they not have the privilege, possessed by other and unrelated persons, of drifting painlessly apart?" makes one question the traditional expectations of family relationships.

"I suppose one is like what one loves. Or one loves what one is like. All Gods are private Gods" delves into the nature of love and the idea that our preferences and affections may be a reflection of ourselves.

"How happy are those who believe that they can pray and be helped, or even, without being helped, be listened to. If there really existed an all-wise intelligence before which he could lay the present tangle, even if that intelligence held its peace, the knowledge that the right solution somewhere existed would soothe the nerves" explores the power of belief and the comfort that it can bring.

The dialogue "-You see, I'd like to know what I'm like. -Perhaps there isn't such thing, Bruno. -I want to get it into focus, what I really feel about it all. -One doesn't necessarily feel anything clear at all about the past. One is such a jumbled thing oneself." touches on the complexity of self-identity and the difficulty of understanding our true selves.

"If only there were not these vain ghostly hopes, these sudden inane shadows of possibilities, these unfulfilled conditionals of hopeless desire" expresses the frustration and disappointment that can come from unfulfilled dreams and expectations.

"It is a weird thought that anyone is permitted to love anyone and in any way he pleases [...] Anything can happen, so that in a way, a terrible terrible way, there are no impossibilities" highlights the unpredictable and often strange nature of love.

Overall, the major themes of Eros & Thanatos, which are very characteristic of Murdoch's work, add another layer of depth and complexity to these quotes and the book as a whole.

The short story collection in 1970 placed Murdoch in the complex web of relationships and characters surrounding him without disrupting the text or the narrative thread that begins and ends the story in his bed.

Bruno, that middle-aged man waiting for death in bed with his wife, and his hobby of collecting stamps and writing about his favorite spider species.

During his waking and sleeping in the sickbed and constipation; and the principles of gout disease recall his past with his wife, children, and son-in-law. The latter is the one who takes care of him after the death of his wife and the departure of his son Miles with his personal misfortunes, and the attempt to immerse in writing poetry after losing his first wife in a tragic accident. And many other characters as Murdoch returned to us but without any disruption or distraction.

We start with Bruno at the beginning of the narrative and move to each person around him, each with their personal misfortunes, love, death, illness, betrayal, and regret, with the usual psychological and philosophical analyses for each of them, and finally returning to the theme of the story, which is that our lives are a kind of living dream when we contemplate it, we see it as a terrifyingly complex thing, this life that can cause its owner to be amazed beyond measure, and that man's efforts in his life are meaningless, all the things he pursued and sought after; come at the end of life as something unimportant like a mirage. But with the awareness of death, it makes you feel like you have nothing but love, the only thing left at the end and remaining at the end of the journey.

And as usual, we see philosophy strongly present in Iris's literary texts and influenced by Sartre with an elegant and not boring narrative this time.

And it is a great misfortune that Iris suffered from Alzheimer's disease in the mid-1990s of the twentieth century; and only then did she say that now she will stop writing after her 26th novel.

A pleasure to read indeed.

Yes, the characters are victims of circumstance, but more importantly, they are not read as symbols of a universal 'type' such as the goodie or the baddie. This sets the novel apart from the moral tales that were prevalent in the past and still abound today.

Given this existential outlook, the histories of the characters related within the book make up a satisfying, readable, and racy'story'. One is inevitably drawn to comparisons between several situations (there are deliberately 'paired' situations). Note the table-turning events, reflect upon the choices possible to a character, and consider how 'normal' a decision in the novel seems and what the alternatives might be.

Despite this, as has been said, it is a modern 'existential' novel rather than a staged morality tale and is thought-provoking, moving, and memorable, as one would expect from Iris Murdoch, and thoroughly enjoyable. It is one of my favorite IM novels.

It strikes me that a constant theme throughout all Murdoch novels is the acceptance (and thereby forgiveness) of individuals as they are. People in close relationships, such as families and couples, are outraged and bemused by the behavior of their loved ones (and are also astonished at the extremity of their own actions at times), yet they come to terms (forgive) in an individual way with the situations that prevail. I stress again - individual situations, not standard cases, representative myths, etc. People are understood to compose a practically infinite spectrum, and given such a range, it is no surprise that finding perfectly matching jigsaw pieces is unlikely and problematic. This fact can be mused upon by human beings, not counted among their faults.

One might be tempted to simply dismiss this as a sappy soap opera, but there is far more depth and complexity to it than meets the eye.

It is, in fact, a midlife crisis multiplied by eight. Consider the relationships of Miles and Diana, Darby and Lisa, Will and Adelaide, and Nigel and an unknown partner, as well as Bruno and his mystery connection.

Each of these pairs is likely grappling with their own set of challenges and insecurities as they reach this stage of life. There could be issues of identity, unfulfilled dreams, or a sense of dissatisfaction with the status quo.

Perhaps Miles is questioning his career choices, while Diana is longing for more excitement in her life. Maybe Darby and Lisa are facing marital problems, and Will and Adelaide are dealing with the pressures of raising a family.

The unknown partners of Nigel and Bruno add an element of mystery and intrigue, leaving us to wonder what their stories are and how they fit into this web of midlife turmoil.

So, while it may initially seem like a simple soap opera, a closer look reveals a much more nuanced and thought-provoking exploration of the human experience in the midst of midlife.

Originally published on my blog here in June 2003.

An old man, Bruno, lies on his deathbed, hardly comprehending the happenings around him. This might seem an unpropitious central character for a novel. Perhaps this is part of the reason why Bruno's Dream is not among Murdoch's best novels. However, it is a theme that suits her style, which has dreamlike qualities, more than it would for many other writers.

Bruno's concerns are typical of someone in his position. He wishes to reconcile with his son Miles, with whom he quarreled due to Miles' marriage to an Indian woman against Bruno's wishes. Bruno suspects that those caring for him do so for his possessions, mainly a stamp collection that is ultimately destroyed when his house floods. Bruno's illness has affected his mind, causing him to often forget who he is talking to. He is more interested in memories of his past than in the people around him, thus missing the dramatic events in the lives of other characters, triggered by Miles' return.

The point, as the novel's title indicates, is the reality or otherwise of what is described. The story is written in the third person, but is it actually happening or is it Bruno's dream? The reader cannot be certain (though the title leans towards fantasy for me). As a dream, it is remarkably lucid for someone in Bruno's condition, and he can consistently invent things about people whose names he can't remember when he (thinks he) meets them.

There are two famous quotations from Jane Austen where she describes the small scale of her novels. \\"3 or 4 families in a Country Village is the very thing to work on\\", and the limits of her work as \\"the little bit (two inches wide) of Ivory on which with so fine a Brush\\". Among later writers, Iris Murdoch is one of the few who shared this delight in the miniature. There are only seven or eight living characters (a couple who die before the novel starts also affect the plot). In a novel of such a small scale, the author has to work hard to maintain the reader's interest, so it's not surprising when melodrama creeps in. Here, melodrama adds to the dreamlike atmosphere - events like the flood and a farcical duel seem almost anti-realistic.

As I come to the end of my thoughts on this novel, it appears that there is more to Bruno's Dream than I initially thought while reading it. Even if it's not one of Murdoch's greatest novels, it is definitely worth reading.