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Diffused Eroticisms: Love, Friendship, and Bisexuality in the Writings of Iris Murdoch

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September 8th, 7:00 – 8:30 pm

UMBC Fine Arts Recital Hall

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Preregistration is recommended, but not required

Presented by the Center for Ethics and Values
and co-sponsored by Department of Philosophy; Dresher Center for the Humanities; Department of English; Department of Gender, Women’s, + Sexuality Studies

Miles Leeson, Reader in English Literature, Director of the Iris Murdoch Research Centre, University of Chichester

Miles Leeson is Director of the Iris Murdoch Research Center at the University of Chichester, UK. Among his many publications are Murdoch’s edited poems, Poems from An Attic: The Selected Poems of Iris Murdoch (Penguin, 2026), his essay collection, Visiting Mrs Bayley and Other Essays (2026) and the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Iris Murdoch due from Oxford University Press in 2028. He is the Lead Editor of the Iris Murdoch Review, the ‘Iris Murdoch Today’ series with Palgrave Macmillan, and hosts the Iris Murdoch Podcast.

Mark Hopwood, Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Maryland Baltimore County

Mark Hopwood is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at UMBC. He is the author of The Moral Philosophy of Iris Murdoch (2025) and co-editor of The Murdochian Mind (2022), and teaches classes in ethics, political philosophy, 20th century continental philosophy, and the philosophy of art.

Abstract

While she is pre-eminent as one of the twentieth century’s great novelists and philosophers, Iris Murdoch’s life as a poet has languished in the shadows. Yet throughout her life she wrote, revised and re-wrote a sizeable collection of poems; publishing some but keeping many private and—ultimately—shut in a chest in her attic.

Their recent discovery marks a significant literary event. Ranging over nearly six decades, these searing, confessional poems balance craft with playfulness; psychological insight with Murdoch’s own personal feelings. As an autobiographical account, they are unlike anything else. They shine a new light on Iris Murdoch’s turbulent relationships with men and women, her decades-long marriage and extraordinary life.

At this event, Miles Leeson—co-editor of the recently released Poems from an Attic (2026), a carefully edited collection of Murdoch’s posthumously discovered poems—will discuss Murdoch’s exploration of the boundaries of poetry, philosophy, relationships, and sexuality with Mark Hopwood, UMBC faculty member and author of the book Iris Murdoch’s Moral Philosophy (2025). The event will include time for audience discussion and is free and open to all.