A Severed Head by Iris Murdoch

With An Introduction By
Miranda Seymour

Book blurb

Martin believes he can possess both a beautiful wife and a delightful lover. But when his wife, Antonia, suddenly leaves him for her psychoanalyst, Martin is plunged into an intensive emotional re-education. He attempts to behave beautifully and sensibly. Then he meets a woman whose demonic splendour at first repels him and later arouses a consuming and monstrous passion. How will he survive it?

My thoughts

It’s all becomes a bit of a farce as we are introduced to the players and situations in ‘A Severed Head’ by Iris Murdoch their desires, needs and entanglements.

Martin Lynch-Gibbon, our main narrator, is with Georgie, his lover, it is just before Christmas and the scene is being set with regard to a tangle of relationships.

I needed both of them, and having both I possessed the world.

Martin Lynch-Gibbon

Martin is married to Antonia, seemingly happily even though he has a mistress, Georgie. This to Martin is how he wants life to be. His wife is older and provides a motherly element to their relationship whilst his clandestine relationship with Georgie makes him feel fulfilled.

Antonia has a therapist called Palmer Anderson, he’s a friend of her and Martin. Palmer has a half sister, Honor Klein an academic who lives in Cambridge. Martin is a wine merchant with an interest in history. He has a brother, Alexander, and a sister, Rosemary who we don’t get to know much about but flits in and out through the book.

Alexander and Martin throughout their youth have been rival’s with regard to girlfriends. It seems that Martin would have a girlfriend and Alexander would steal her away. They are close but this one trait of his brothers is a bugbear with Martin.

Trained as an anthropologist, Honor is able to compare herself to one of the severed heads to which a primitive tribe addresses its secret fears. (Textual references also connect her to the terrible gorgon head of Medusa.)

Miranda Seymour

Severed heads there are a few references in the story. Honor as we read compares herself to a severed head in a primitive tribe. Alexander, a sculptor, has a head of Antonia which he made in his studio.

The fog came steadily over us in waves and it was extremely difficult to see where one was on the road.

Martin – he has picked up Honor from the train to take her to her brother’s house

The weather has been considered as reflecting Martin’s state of mind with the ‘pea soupers’ – those awful dense fogs that occurred in past years happening through the story – demonstrating Martin’s need to control as he beats around the bush on who he is, who he loves and how his actions affect others. It is in his interactions with Honor that we see a clarity, the fog lifts, coming to Martin.

The most lethal incidence of this smog in London occurred in 1952 when thousands died and resulted in the Clean Air Act 1956 and Clean Air Act 1968, both now repealed and consolidated into the Clean Air Act 1993, which were effective in largely removing sulphur dioxide and coal smoke, major causes of pea soup fog. Then, in 1962, 750 Londoners died as a result of a fog. This kind of smog has now become a thing of the past thanks to pollution legislation and modern developments such as the widespread use of central heating.

The subtlety which is one of the greatest delights of this magnificently assured novel is sacrificed here and without need; the story of Gyges and Candaules is an unnecessary cherry, dropped on top of a souffle which had already reached its perfect height.

Miranda Seymour

Gyges and Candaules a mythical story of deception and betrayal used with regard to Martin and Honor’s situation. In her introduction Miranda Seymour felt this was unnecessary and tasteless, or perhaps, showing off. I didn’t mind this reference and enjoyed reading about it.

In conclusion this is a wonderful story of infidelity, deception and coming to terms with (a kind of) reality. It acts out like a theatrical farce yet it has some serious issues to contend with. Iris Murdoch has a deft and light touch with an almost wicked humour that makes A Severed Head a terrific read. I enjoyed it and heartily recommend reading this book.

Note: if you read this version and have not read A Severed Head previously you should read the introduction after reading the book.

Blogs on ‘A Severed Head’ (and I daresay there are more but these I have read since reading the book) that are well worth reading: CalmgroveBooks | BookishBeck | LibroFullTime

I have also read: The Bell

The 1961 Club

Karen from Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings and Simon from Stuck in a Book are banding together once more to co-host the latest club read. This time we have the year 1961 to find books from. If you want any inspiration on what to read you can use the links to Karen or Simon’s blogs above and check out all the books being read.

Information

Published: Vintage Books (Penguin Imprint) | 03 January 2013 | 224pp | ISBN: 9781407019789 | ISBN: 9780099285366

First published in Great Britain in 1961 by Chatto and Windus

Buy: Publisher | bookshop.org (affiliate link) | Your local library | Your local bookshop

Author

Iris Murdoch was born in Dublin in 1919. After working in the Treasury and in the UN, she discovered philosophy, eventually becoming Fellow at St Anne’s College, Oxford. Her philosophical concerns are at the heart of the 25 novels for which she became famous, gaining the Whitbread Prize for The Sacred and Profane Love Machine and the Booker Prize for The Sea, The Sea. Until her death in 1999, she lived in Oxford with her husband, the academic and critic, John Bayley. She wrote poetry all her life.

Authors Page | Somerville University Biography |

BOOKS BY IRIS MURDOCH

Fiction

Under the Net | The Flight from the Enchanter | The Sandcastle | The Bell | An Unofficial Rose | The Unicorn | The Italian Girl | The Red and the Green | The Time of the Angels | The Nice and the Good | Bruno’s Dream | A Fairly Honourable Defeat | An Accidental Man | The Black Prince | The Sacred and Profane | Love Machine | A Word Child | Henry and Cato | The Sea, The Sea | Nuns and Soldiers | The Philosopher’s Pupil | The Good Apprentice | The Book and the Brotherhood | The Message to the Planet | The Green Knight | Jackson’s Dilemma | Something Special

Non-Fiction

Sartre: Romantic Rationalist | Acastos: Two Platonic Dialogues | Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals Existentialists and Mystics

Further Information/Reading

Rachel Hirschler is the lead transcriber with the Iris Murdoch Collections at Kingston University Archives. 

Miles Leeson, Anne Rowe and Frances White are leading academics and editors who have published widely on Iris Murdoch’s life, philosophy and novels. Together they administer and contribute to the work of the Iris Murdoch Research Centre, the Iris Murdoch Society and the Iris Murdoch Review.

The Iris Murdoch Society Podcast

The National Archives: Dame Jean Iris Murdoch

BBC Radio 4 Iris Murdoch In Our Time: Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the author and philosopher Iris Murdoch (1919 – 1999).

Iris Murdoch Special on the 100th anniversary of her birth.

Discussion on Iris Murdoch: Iris Murdoch (BBC R4) – Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the author and philosopher Iris Murdoch (1919 – 1999).

The Twelfth International Iris Murdoch Conference will take place at the University of Chichester, 14–16 August 2026. Call for papers: closed 31.03.2026

Fog: The Great Smog of 1952 (Met Office) | YouTube | London Museum

Medusa: MFF | New Voices in Classical Reception Studies: Issue 13 (2020) | JSTOR Medusa search

Gyges and Candaules: JSTOR JOURNAL ARTICLE (FREE) – The Tale of Gyges and the King of Lydia by Kirby Flower Smith | The Literary Tradition of Gyges and Candaules by Kirby Flower Smith |