June 17, 2019
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This document is linked to :
info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2271-5444
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Camille Fort, « Iris Murdoch et les écueils de la fiction éthique », Études britanniques contemporaines, ID : 10.4000/ebc.7164
This article attempts a parallel study of Iris Murdoch’s philosophical and fictional texts so as to emphasize the « ethics of reading » that is part of her writing agenda. Her philosophical essays show her will to produce « truthful » fiction — that is, moral fiction centered upon the concept of « goodness ». Her novels, however, display another ethical procedure, an « ethics of interlocution » in which speech is considered for itself, as a demand to others, regardless of its moral content. The author’s modernity lies in this tension between ethics and morals: we can see her share in the post-structuralist debate whether language can still convey meaningful values.