The Green Knight (novel)

The Green Knight is the 25th novel[1] by the Irish writer and philosopher Iris Murdoch, first published in 1993.

The Green Knight
Cover of the first edition
AuthorIris Murdoch
Cover artistRembrandt, The Polish Rider
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
PublisherChatto & Windus
Publication date
1993
Media typePrint
Pages472pp
ISBN0-7011-6030-6
OCLC34742768

Plot summary

The lives of Louise Anderson and her daughters Aleph, Sefton and Moy become intertwined with a mystical character whose destiny both affects and informs the novel's central conflicts which include a murder that never actually occurs, sibling rivalry, love triangles, and one extremely sentient dog who dearly misses his owner. This novel loosely parodies the medieval poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; however, it is largely a comedy of errors with bizarre twists and turns in circumstances that threaten the stability of a circle of friends in a London community.

Characters
  • Louise Anderson, an emotionally repressed mother of three girls
  • Sefton, daughter of Louise, a student and lover of history
  • Aleph, daughter of Louise, an extremely beautiful and desired young lady
  • Moy, daughter of Louise, a psychic animal lover
  • Joan, a childhood friend of Louise and mother of Harvey
  • Harvey, Joan's son who breaks his foot
  • Clement, brother of Lucas who is also his nemesis
  • Lucas, a dark, Byronic figure who mentally tortures his brother Clement, the antagonist
  • Bellamy, a wannabe monk
  • Peter, a gentlemen who was assaulted by Lucas and has come back to demand reparation
  • Anax, a border collie who desperately misses Bellamy who gave him up to prove his Christian convictions

Reception

Publishers Weekly referred to the book as "...far from perfect, but passages of intense writing and keen depictions of people grappling with afflictions of the soul remind us that Murdoch's perspective is invaluable."[2]

References
  1. Simon, Linda (9 January 1994). "The Mugger Who Came Back From the Dead". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  2. "The Green Knight". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 29 December 2020.


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