Product Description

This is the story of the comic and yet relentless struggle for survival of Austin Gibson Grey, the accidental man. Austin is one of those people who needs to survive through the destruction of others. The others, in Austin's case, include his successful elder brothers, Matthew, and the women who, one after the other, are so touchingly convinced that they can 'save' him. In this latter role, we meet Austin's estranged wife, Dorina, a crazed angel, and Austin's far from angelic alcoholic landlady, Mtizi. Other women interest themselves too in Austin's fate, with hilarious and appalling results.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #37259 in Books
• Published on: 2003-02-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Raymond Mortimer
‘Of the novelists who have made their bow since the war she seems to me to be the most remarkable’

The Times
‘Iris Murdoch is incapable of writing without fascinating and beautiful colour’

Peter Conradi, The Guardian
‘Iris Murdoch was one of the best and most influential writers of the twentieth century.’

Customer Reviews

Who is the Accidental Man?
In my opinion, reading Iris Murdoch's tale of moral dilemmas, graced by her taut observations of human behaviour, imparts a dazzling sense of the absurd laced with the comic trivialities of social status and middle class angst. The story provides a cascade of accidental moments, showering its characters with the bitter fragments of disillusionment, victimisation and opportunism: Ludwig (the love struck young American draft dodger), Mitzi (the hard drinking podgy Amazonian ex athlete), Austin (the jobless, emotionally unstable husband of Dorina, father of Garth and brother of Sir Matthew Gibson Grey), the Tisbournes (wealthy gossip laden meddlers) and the Monkleys (the victims of two significant accidents resulting in very bad and strangely good consequences respectively). The narrative is engrossing, offering a variety of literary styles (i.e. epistolary sequences and fragmented party banter), but always controlled and imaginatively paced. The short section concerning the inner thoughts of Pyrrhus (a black Labrador) is beautifully written and empathetically funny. Yet another must read Iris.