Interview #12 of 23 included in
From a Tiny Corner in the House of Fiction
(2003, Univ. of S. Carolina Press) edited by
Gillian Dooley)
Q: Some critics have felt that you
have a very limited view of the human
capacity for improvement.
Iris Murdoch : I think anybody would have
it if they looked around. Perhaps one can
improve a little bit, but egoism is so
fearfully strong and so natural. One is
demanding something which goes contrary
to nature if one thinks of attaining goodness,
or even of improving oneself markedly.
Do you know of anyone who has improved
themselves much?
Q: Yet it does seem that there is a sort of subtext in some
of your novels, positing an impersonal love which is impossible
quite beyond human happiness, niceness, decency, sexual love. . .
Iris Murdoch: Yes, I think one is
haunted by this idea. How far it
can change one's life is another
matter, but I think it's worth having
it there. That's why I feel much closer
to Christianity now than when I was
younger. If you are fortunate to
have Christ in your life, it's something
you should hold on to.
Q: what do you think is the true function of art? Consolation,
education, pure pleasure?
Iris Murdoch: The phrase you've used --
pure pleasure -- is good, I think. One
should live with good art and not get
addicted to bad art, which is
demoralising and disappointing. One
also learns a lot from art: how to look
at the world and to understand it; it
makes everything far more interesting.
It's a mode of reflection and this is
why it's a terrible crime for totalitarian
states to interfere with artists!
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