Our conversation meanders back to the matter at hand, is there a renaissance in Iris Murdoch Studies? “She is being included increasingly in books from many disciplines.” Frances thinks that times are changing and that there is a “complete change in the way literature is viewed … the idea that western literature should be seen as better is absolutely shot to pieces now …. or people are saying there isn’t a canon at all”. She also makes the valid point that there “tends to be a pattern that after writers die they fall away a bit and then they come back”; this could be true for Iris just the same as for any writer.
Evidence of the growing interest in Iris Murdoch can be seen through the social media: “people are reading about her” and she has more than two thousand followers online on Twitter, and a lively appreciation page on Facebook. Frances becomes suddenly animated at the talk of the growing interest. “People chatting away [on Twitter] saying ‘oh my favorite character is Charles I really really love him’ and someone else saying ‘no I can’t stand him he is so full of himself!’ It’s very very nice the way people are just talking about the books.
From an interview with Frances White of the Centre for Iris Murdoch Studies in Kingston University. Iris Murdoch: A Renaissance? via @IrisMurdoch