Reception Frame of Iris Murdoch’s Critical Studies

Abstract

The article analyzes the enrichment of the reception frame of I. Murdoch's oeuvre due to the complementation of different discourses (fiction, philosophy, culture study, criticism and theory of literature). In this context the rethinking of post-structuralism and deconstruction theories as a conceptual basis of literary postmodernism for revealing specific features of the writer’s literary text is shown. Murdoch’s theoretical views regarding the role of criticism in the contemporary literary process are considered, in particular her categorical rejection of deconstruction. The literature of postmodernism is a phenomenon that unites different discourses; in this perspective Murdoch's oeuvre fits the outlined framework. Readers know Iris Murdoch both as a writer, theorist and critic of her own works, as well as works of other writers; and also as a moral philosopher, that resorts to an artistic, poetic way of thought verbalization. However, concerning Murdoch's works, postmodernism is related only as a specific way of world perception, world outlook, and not as a concept of postmodern fiction or literary criticism. Approximation of the writer's literary manner to postmodernism is not defined as a theoretical philosophical reflection; it is rather a semi-conscious emotional reaction to the crisis of the modern world, crisis of faith in established values. In Murdoch's novels, the echo of the signs of postmodern consciousness is realized through manifestations of philosophical pluralism and genre metamorphism.