Booker Prize Winner

The Sea, the Sea

by Iris Murdoch

Summary

A celebrated theatre director retreats to a remote house on the English coast intending to write his memoirs, only to discover that his first love is living in the nearby village. Murdoch turns his obsessive pursuit into a study of the gap between the self we narrate and the self we actually are, weaving in Buddhist thought, Shakespearean echoes and a current of the uncanny. The result is one of her richest examinations of love, vanity and moral self-knowledge.

Historical Context & Significance

Murdoch was a philosopher, and this book is studied for its layers of moral philosophy.