Preface to the Second Edition Preface to the First Edition Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Revisiting the Sublime and the Beautiful: Iris Murdoch’s Realism The Insistence of the Past Narrative as Redemption: The Bell Author and Hero: Murdoch’s First-Person Retrospective Novels Reading Past Truth: Under the Net and The Black Prince The Writing Cure: A Severed Head and A Word Child The Ambivalence of Coming Home: The Italian Girl and The Sea, the Sea Philosophy’s Dangerous Pupil: Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals, Derrida, and The Philosopher’s Pupil Postscript: Reading Iris Murdoch Notes Bibliography Index