image of person or book cover 336229365126659988.jpg
Cover image courtesy of publisher.
Issue Details: First known date: 2014... 2014 Never Mind about the Bourgeoisie : The Correspondence between Iris Murdoch and Brian Medlin 1976-1995
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Brian Medlin met the novelist Iris Murdoch at Oxford in 1961 when he joined New College as a Research Fellow, and they remained friends for the remainder of her life, though after he left Oxford they only met once again. This correspondence published here covers a period of more than twenty years. In his letters, Medlin regaled Murdoch with Australian jokes, travel stories and anecdotes, and answered her many questions about Australian flora and fauna, and the Australian vernacular. She in turn quizzed him about his radical politics, and they agreed to disagree about Marxism and the bourgeoisie. In 1992, she wrote a review of his radical environmental monograph Human Nature, Human Survival for an Australian newspaper, and the full text of that review (only one-quarter of which was published at the time) is also published in this book. Medlin, born in 1927, was already in his mid-thirties when he arrived at New College. He had not had a typical academic career. He spent his early years in outback Australia as a store-keeper, kangaroo shooter, stockyard builder, horse-breaker and drover. He returned to Adelaide in the early 1950s and studied Philosophy. After graduation, a scholarship took him to Oxford. On his return to Australia, he was appointed to the chair of Philosophy at the new Flinders University (founded in 1966). Iris Murdoch's correspondence with Brian Medlin is the record of a deeply affectionate relationship between two highly intelligent, articulate and philosophically sophisticated beings.' (Publication summary)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Cambridge, Cambridgeshire,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Cambridge Scholars Press ,
      2014 .
      image of person or book cover 336229365126659988.jpg
      Cover image courtesy of publisher.
      Extent: 247p.
      ISBN: 9781443855440

Works about this Work

The Preciousness of Everything : The 2014 Brian Medlin Memorial Lecture Brian Matthews , 2015 single work criticism
— Appears in: Transnational Literature , November vol. 8 no. 1 2015;
Philosophy Professor's Cavalier Interventions Brian Matthews , 2014 single work essay
— Appears in: Eureka Street , 20 June vol. 24 no. 11 2014; (p. 1-2)
Iris and Brian Jane Sullivan , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , May no. 361 2014; (p. 18)

— Review of Never Mind about the Bourgeoisie : The Correspondence between Iris Murdoch and Brian Medlin 1976-1995 2014 single work correspondence
Iris and Brian Jane Sullivan , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , May no. 361 2014; (p. 18)

— Review of Never Mind about the Bourgeoisie : The Correspondence between Iris Murdoch and Brian Medlin 1976-1995 2014 single work correspondence
Philosophy Professor's Cavalier Interventions Brian Matthews , 2014 single work essay
— Appears in: Eureka Street , 20 June vol. 24 no. 11 2014; (p. 1-2)
The Preciousness of Everything : The 2014 Brian Medlin Memorial Lecture Brian Matthews , 2015 single work criticism
— Appears in: Transnational Literature , November vol. 8 no. 1 2015;
Last amended 16 May 2014 12:02:20
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