Existentialists and Mystics

Existentialists and Mystics gathers Iris Murdoch's most significant literary and philosophical essays for the first time in one volume.

Tracing her intellectual journey toward modern Platonism, the collection includes incisive evaluations of thinkers such as T.S.

Eliot, Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Simone de Beauvoir, and Elias Canetti, as well as key texts on the sublime, the concept of love, and the role of literature in addressing philosophical questions.

The essays, spanning academic papers, radio talks, book reviews, lectures, and dialogues, illuminate the moral dimensions of literature and reflect Murdoch's unique perspective on goodness, beauty, and the contrasting ethical visions of Platonic, existential, and British analytic philosophy.