Bruno's Dream

Bruno's Dream is a novel by Iris Murdoch. Published in 1969, it was her twelfth novel.

Bruno's Dream
Cover of the first edition
AuthorIris Murdoch
Cover artistPatricia Davey
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
PublisherChatto & Windus
Publication date
1969
Media typePrint (Hardcover)
Pages293
ISBN0701114266
OCLC251613990

Plot

Set in London, the novel tells the story of a dying man called Bruno and his family. Narrated in the third person that allows for multiple character perspectives it follows Bruno, Bruno's son Miles, Miles' wife Diana and her sister Lisa, Bruno's son-in-law Danby, Bruno's nurse Adelaide, Nigel (the messianic figure consistently found in Murdoch's novels) and Nigel's twin brother, Will. The novel ends with all the different people, other than Nigel, coupling up.

Couples: Miles and Parvati (1st wife), Miles and Diana (2nd wife), Miles and Lisa (Diana's sister) they love each other but never get together. Danby and Gwen (1st wife and Bruno's daughter), Danby and Adelaide (his maid/mistress), Danby and Diana- they go dancing once and he proposes an affair, but it doesn't come to fruition. Danby and Lisa (they end up together at the end of the novel. Bruno and Janie (his wife), Bruno and Maureen (his mistress). Will and Adelaide (cousins) In the end the couples are Miles and Diana, Danby and Lisa, Bruno and Diana, and Will and Adelaide.

Awards and nominations

Bruno's Dream was shortlisted for the 1970 Booker Prize.[1]

Reception

The critic Harold Bloom listed Bruno's Dream in his The Western Canon (1994) as one of the books in his conception of artistic works that have been important and influential in Western culture.[2] The writer A. N. Wilson described Bruno's Dream as one of the most "distinctive and successful" novels Murdoch wrote in the 1960s.[3]

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References
  1. "The Man Booker Prize Archive" (PDF). The Man Booker Prize. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-09-15. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
  2. Bloom, Harold. The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages. Riverhead Books, 1995, 523.
  3. Wilson, A. N.. Iris Murdoch as I Knew Her. Arrow Books, 2004, 523.


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