By Iris Murdoch
Alfred Ayer, Iris Murdoch and Michael Caine
A pipped shortlistee in three of the first five Booker Prizes, this was finally Iris Murdoch’s year. Surprise was lacking, however, when the winner’s name was leaked before the big reveal.
The Sea, The Sea was Murdoch’s 19th novel and even by Booker Prize standards she was a formidably intellectual figure. She had already written three plays, two works of philosophy and the first English-language biography of Jean-Paul Sartre.
Her winning novel concerns the romantic obsession of a selfish and self-deceiving thespian as he embarks on his memoirs – a very Murdochian book of contradictions. Coincidentally, the prize money in 1978 went from £5,000 to £10,000.
Winner The Booker Prize 1978
By Iris Murdoch
By André Brink
By Jane Gardam