Martin believes he can possess both a beautiful wife and a delightful lover. But when his wife, Antonia, suddenly leaves him for her psychoanalyst, Martin is plunged into an intensive emotional re-education. He attempts to behave beautifully and sensibly. Then he meets a woman whose demonic splendour at first repels him and later arouses a consuming and monstrous passion. How will he survive it?
A Severed Head (Vintage Classics)
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This is a comedy with that touch of ferocity about it which makes for excitement (Elizabeth Jane Howard )
Of all the novelists that have made their bow since the war she seems to me to be the most remarkable...behind her books one feels a power of intellect quite exceptional in a novelist (Sunday Times )
Immensely readable...Miss Murdoch is blessedly clever without any of the aridity which, for some reason, that word is supposed to imply (Philip Toynbee )
Of all the novelists that have made their bow since the war she seems to me to be the most remarkable...behind her books one feels a power of intellect quite exceptional in a novelist (Sunday Times )
Immensely readable...Miss Murdoch is blessedly clever without any of the aridity which, for some reason, that word is supposed to imply (Philip Toynbee )
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A complicated and comic story of dangerous love affairs
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is an odd, quirky book which isn't your usual Iris Murdoch: no near-drownings, nature mysticism or accidents involving machines, and only six characters: three men and three women, who change partners regularly in the manner of a Restoration comedy, or a Noel Coward play, until they've pretty much exhausted all the possible combinations. It's a witty book, but I wouldn't agree with the cover blurb which describes it as a "comic novel". Although the bed-hopping is entertaining for the reader, from the point of view of the characters themselves the whole thing is deadly serious. Indeed, I think this is one of the messages Murdoch is trying to get across: life can be painful and farcical at the same time...
Wine merchant Martin Lynch-Gibbon is initially shocked to discover his wife Antonia is sleeping with her psychiatrist, Palmer Anderson. However, he himself is having an affair with a young student, and decides to do the civilised thing and give his tacit approval to his wife's relationship with Palmer, for the sake of an easy life all round. This cozy arrangement is rudely interrupted when Palmer's half-sister, Honor Klein, arrives on the scene: she accuses Martin of cowardice, infuriating him and resulting in a full-blown punch-up between Honor & Martin (in which Honor gives as good as she gets...) Things get even more complicated when Martin's brother Alexander reveals that he has also had an affair with Antonia; and when Martin suddenly realises that he is in love with Honor. But the course of true love never did run smooth, and Martin (and the reader) have a huge shock in store.
Amongst other things, the book is "about" honesty: no-one is being honest to themselves or each other at the outset, and it is only when the aptly-named Honor forcefully points this out to Martin that things can move on. But, of course, Honor herself has significant unresolved issues.
Judging by other reviews, it seems to be very much a love-it-or-hate-it book. I enjoyed it, but was sometimes left wondering just what Murdoch was getting at. Even as dyed-in-the-wool a Murdoch enthusiast as A.S. Byatt didn't seem to be able to make up her mind whether she liked it or not in her book about Murdoch's early novels, "Degrees of Freedom". The novel contains a certain amount of Freudian and Jungian psychobabble which was very trendy in the 1960s when it was written, but seems fairly dated now: I suspect this is why some reviewers have found it pretentious. All the same, there is some great writing here, including some marvellous set pieces: Martin driving Honor through London in a thick fog which is a metaphor for the way he has lost the plot in his life; and a memorable scene involving a woman and a Samurai sword, forty years before Quentin Tarantino. Definitely worth a look.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By A reader
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book is a delight, but I felt moved to post a review to warn people not to read the introduction by Miranda Seymour before reading the novel, because it gives away many of the important plot developments. Half the fun of the novel comes from some of the unexpected events, so do read the introduction afterwards rather than before. Luckily this is what I did, so it didn't spoil anything.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By S. Murphy
Format:Paperback
what a waste of time.
I have read and enjoyed Iris Murdoch's The Bell The Bell (Vintage Classics) and ADORED the incomparable The Sea, The Sea.The Sea, the Sea(in my top 10 ever books, I reckon) but A Severed head was a plotless, characterless, repetetive and lazy novel which did not make sense in terms of motivation or psychology. Dull characters saying silly and outrageous things and behaving like 2-D written characters, not like people.
Bed-hopping, philosophy-spouting drearyness and the fog! Oh my goodness - the heavy-handed 'infernal' fog. we get it. He's on an dante-esque descent into a personal hell. WE GET IT! What a dull read.
There was too much "steadycam" action describing characters again and again pouring wine, making tea, trying to sleep. Only 200 hundred words and so many of them superfluous.
Iris Murdoch is worth reading. This is not. It does not do her justice
I have read and enjoyed Iris Murdoch's The Bell The Bell (Vintage Classics) and ADORED the incomparable The Sea, The Sea.The Sea, the Sea(in my top 10 ever books, I reckon) but A Severed head was a plotless, characterless, repetetive and lazy novel which did not make sense in terms of motivation or psychology. Dull characters saying silly and outrageous things and behaving like 2-D written characters, not like people.
Bed-hopping, philosophy-spouting drearyness and the fog! Oh my goodness - the heavy-handed 'infernal' fog. we get it. He's on an dante-esque descent into a personal hell. WE GET IT! What a dull read.
There was too much "steadycam" action describing characters again and again pouring wine, making tea, trying to sleep. Only 200 hundred words and so many of them superfluous.
Iris Murdoch is worth reading. This is not. It does not do her justice
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Change Partners and Dance
"A Severed Head," (1961), is the fifth novel from Dublin-born, Anglo-Irish Dame Iris Murdoch, British writer, Oxford university don, and highly praised, professional, prolific... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Stephanie DePue
3.0 out of 5 stars
Strange
This started out well with a pleasing wave of schadenfreude washing over me when adulterer Martin learns that his wife is having an affair with his best friend. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Swizzlestick
2.0 out of 5 stars
Self-indulgent, self-congratulatory and dull
Very rich middle-aged people, all apparently with firsts from Oxford, play around with each other and then implore the deceived partners to stick around and be loving friends. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Nick Macfie
4.0 out of 5 stars
love stories, like musical chairs - in a washing machine
This is an unusual and enjoyable novel, full of struggling (largely unsympathetic) characters, delicious ironies, and understated mysteries that ply the readers' imagination even... Read more
Published on 24 May 2011 by rob crawford
4.0 out of 5 stars
Disturbing, utterly compelling account of adultery and the muddle of...
In A Severed Head, Martin Lynch-Gibbon, established wine merchant, and happily dedicated two-timing sophisticate (he has been betraying his wife, Antonia, by having an affair for... Read more
Published on 3 Dec 2010 by bobbygw
3.0 out of 5 stars
Infuriating and overrated.
I must say that `A Severed Head' is one of the most frustrating books I've ever read. I found the characters to be starchy, unrealistically dramatic (especially given their... Read more
Published on 1 Feb 2007 by Mr. A. Farrer
5.0 out of 5 stars
Iris Murdoch A Severed Head
This book was given to me to read by my best friend from school. It was the first Iris Murdoch book I have ever read. Well.... Read more
Published on 24 Aug 2005
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Severed Head
do yourself a favour, and don't read James whatshisname at the start of this list of reviews. What a pretensious twerp!
Published on 28 Jun 2004 by Simon Marsh
5.0 out of 5 stars
A bit strong for the Chardonnay Generation?
Hmm...
well this is Murdoch's fifth novel, not her first, and I can only assume that it may be a bit strong for you Bridget Jones afficianados. Read more
Published on 28 Sep 2003 by j.de turberville
4.0 out of 5 stars
It's just the beginning...
It's visible that it's Murdoch's first novel. The plot is not fully developed and language is not as rich as in her later works. Read more
Published on 14 Aug 2002
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