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'Brian Medlin met the novelist Iris Murdoch at Oxford in 1961 when he joined New College as a Research Fellow, and they remained friends for the remainder of her life, though after he left Oxford they only met once again. This correspondence published here covers a period of more than twenty years. In his letters, Medlin regaled Murdoch with Australian jokes, travel stories and anecdotes, and answered her many questions about Australian flora and fauna, and the Australian vernacular. She in turn quizzed him about his radical politics, and they agreed to disagree about Marxism and the bourgeoisie. In 1992, she wrote a review of his radical environmental monograph Human Nature, Human Survival for an Australian newspaper, and the full text of that review (only one-quarter of which was published at the time) is also published in this book. Medlin, born in 1927, was already in his mid-thirties when he arrived at New College. He had not had a typical academic career. He spent his early years in outback Australia as a store-keeper, kangaroo shooter, stockyard builder, horse-breaker and drover. He returned to Adelaide in the early 1950s and studied Philosophy. After graduation, a scholarship took him to Oxford. On his return to Australia, he was appointed to the chair of Philosophy at the new Flinders University (founded in 1966). Iris Murdoch's correspondence with Brian Medlin is the record of a deeply affectionate relationship between two highly intelligent, articulate and philosophically sophisticated beings.' (Publication summary)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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The Preciousness of Everything : The 2014 Brian Medlin Memorial Lecture
2015
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Transnational Literature , November vol. 8 no. 1 2015; -
Philosophy Professor's Cavalier Interventions
2014
single work
essay
— Appears in: Eureka Street , 20 June vol. 24 no. 11 2014; (p. 1-2) -
Iris and Brian
2014
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , May no. 361 2014; (p. 18)
— Review of Never Mind about the Bourgeoisie : The Correspondence between Iris Murdoch and Brian Medlin 1976-1995 2014 single work correspondence
-
Iris and Brian
2014
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , May no. 361 2014; (p. 18)
— Review of Never Mind about the Bourgeoisie : The Correspondence between Iris Murdoch and Brian Medlin 1976-1995 2014 single work correspondence -
Philosophy Professor's Cavalier Interventions
2014
single work
essay
— Appears in: Eureka Street , 20 June vol. 24 no. 11 2014; (p. 1-2) -
The Preciousness of Everything : The 2014 Brian Medlin Memorial Lecture
2015
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Transnational Literature , November vol. 8 no. 1 2015;