The Black Prince cover art

The Black Prince

Vintage Classics Murdoch Series

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The Black Prince

By: Iris Murdoch
Narrated by: Anthony Howell
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Vintage Classics Murdoch: Funny, subversive, fearless and fiercely intelligent, Iris Murdoch was one of the great writers of the 20th century. To celebrate her centenary, Vintage Classics presents special editions of her greatest and most timeless novels.

Every artist is an unhappy lover. And unhappy lovers want to tell their story.

Ex-tax collector and author of two unpopular novels, Bradley Pearson wishes to devote his retirement to writing a masterpiece. But the doorbell and the phone keep ringing and every ring brings with it an ex-wife, a friend in need, a sister in trouble or a young woman seeking a teacher and so dusty, selfish Bradley is plunged into the muddles and mysteries which will end in his doom.

Winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize 1973.

©1973 Iris Murdoch (P)2020 Penguin Audio Classics Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Fiction Funny

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All stars
Most relevant  
I loved the characters, the unexpected turn of events and the frankness with which the characters expresses themselves. Utterly brilliant!

Brilliant and unexpected twists to this amazing story

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I’m not a fan of Iris Murdoch’s worldview but I love her style and her characters.
She takes me back to an era where people turned up on doorsteps,wrote letters and talked on landlines.
She has such an insight into getting older.Her characterisation of women is far from misogynistic.She sympathetically draws a picture of despair and limited choices during an era where women did not have the independence they have today.
However,independence and choices do not nullify the fact that everyone gets older and lonelier and she captures that brilliantly.
As in The Sea,the sea the pace of the story makes you laugh at times with delight at the twist it suddenly takes or the surprise at who is standing on the doorstep.
Well worth listening to.

Twists and turns

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Excellent narrator. Quality of writing mostly great but a little overblown and heavy at times

Fantastic ending.

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I loved the way the story kept me interested to know what happened next, whilst at the same time I was struggling to keep myself from throwing my listening device at the wall out of frustration with the characters who at times, in fact most of the time, portrayed self centred and egocentric misery. Perhaps this was because I recognise these traits in my own shadow side? But this is the type of work it is and what makes me say that although this is my first experience of Iris Murdoch's work, it will certainly not be the last.

Intriguing and thought-provoking

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Thanks Excellent narration and a great book With a unique structure. I strongly recommend it.

Great

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the reading conveys a wonderful sense of the characters, by a versatile and sympathetic actor

well read, in every sense, thanks to the narrator.

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i loved hearing it its a Pagen turner while also poetic and analysing art

Story in Story the truth is not clear but probably

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This book is like a time capsule from early 1970's middle-class literally life which is interesting. It's structure is unusual (to me at least) and contains a really complex dislikable central character who has difficulty and sometimes hard to believe relationships with everyone in this life, particularly females. I found it very tough to get through to times as its hard to root or empathise with any characters. My conclusion is that Murdoch is a bit too highbrow for me, its clever but too close to smug and pretentious in the same way Martin Amis can be. Just tell us a good story...

Brilliant narration btw

Challenging, fascinating and disturbing

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I loved this ..magnificently read with real characters who’s every word I believed and with who’s every action I sympathised with
It’s my best discovery almost ever
Listen now!

What a superb story

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I’m not sure why the narrator has attracted flack in other reviews, I’ve also heard Grant’s The Sea, The Sea which is wonderful, but I thought this one was great - the narration I think is spot on for the book’s narrator’s voice… this is a story (like TSTS) of a man too wrapped up in his own self-narration to understand what he is doing, and I thought the audiobook narrator played this the way Murdoch would have wanted, although I can see how that could in places come across as an annoying style in other contexts… I’m no Murdoch expert but I feel like if you need to get along well with your narrators (audio or fictional) then she’s probably not for you. Anyway, this is one of her best and really nicely delivered.

worked surprisingly well in audio

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