How to keep Iris Murdoch's letters in the UK? - donations would be a first class way to address the issue

The Centre for Iris Murdoch Studies at Kingston University is appealing for donations towards the acquisition of 164 letters from Iris Murdoch to the French writer Raymond Queneau, for sale at £65,000.

Bids have been submitted to various funding bodies but at least £10,000 must be raised from other sources.

Murdoch corresponded with Queneau between 1946 and 1975 and this crucially important correspondence, in which Murdoch discusses her embryonic writing career, her emotional well-being and her thoughts on God and on a variety of philosophers, will not only offer fresh insights into Murdoch's novels but also enlarge understanding of influences and dialogues with other philosophers and theologians. The unprecedented insights into her inner life will inform any future biography.

Professor Peter Conradi, Iris Murdoch's official biographer, suggests that this is 'an electrifying run which would immeasurably enrich Kingston's archive'. These letters will complement the other components of the Murdoch Special Collections, which include Murdoch's heavily annotated Oxford library of more than a thousand books, her unpublished book on Heidegger, her notebook on Sartre, the Conradi archives, the library from Murdoch's London home in Cornwall Gardens and other individual items which have been bought or gifted to the collection.

Other letter-runs include some to the Nobel Prize-winning writer, Elias Canetti; to Sister Marian at Stanbrook Abbey; to an American writer, Roly Cochrane; to the Canadian teacher and scholar, Scott Dunbar; and to the painter, Barbara Dorf. A large run of letters from Murdoch to an Oxford contemporary, Denis Paul, were recently purchased with the help of the Friends of the National Libraries.

The Archives catalogue is available online at kuadlib.kingston.ac.uk. A research level of secondary source material provides background and supporting literature and, collectively, this material situates Kingston University as a world class resource for Murdoch scholars worldwide. The University is working to enhance this valuable resource and intends to secure funding to transcribe and digitize the annotations to the Oxford library.

"More immediately", say the organisers of the appeal, "we need to secure funding for these important letters which are crucial to the intellectual integrity of our collection. Research carried out in the archives is already feeding into new interpretations of Murdoch's work and this acquisition will enable the publication of a first 'Collected Letters of Iris Murdoch', which will include scholarly essays on their significance to current Murdoch scholarship. Much archival material has been bought by US archives.

"Recognition of the importance of retaining such material in the UK, as well as enhancing our existing archives, is a significant objective of this appeal. Email Dr Anne Rowe, the Director of the Centre for Iris Murdoch Studies at imappeal@kingston.ac.uk. Please note: we do not require any money at this time, only an indication of how much you are prepared to pledge".

Contact: Dr Anne Rowe

More information ...