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MARINELA COJOCARIU
Vasile Goldiş University, Arad
Abstract
In this essay, the author outlines and elaborates on the
reception that the novels of noted British novelist and
philosopher Iris Murdoch have received from the Romanian
readership to date. Central to this discussion is the issue of
Murdoch’s membership in the British Communist Party, which
allowed her works to have a wide dissemination in pre-1989
Romania. Generally speaking, Iris Murdoch enjoyed a considerable
success with literary specialists who felt challenged by the
abundance of characters, each minutely described, and a very
British sense of humor. Special attention is given in this
article to the ever-lasting problem of translation routinely
summarized as “to translate is to betray,” as well as to the
impact of translation on critical responses. The lasting appeal
of Iris Murdoch’s literary work in Romania owes much to the
ever-fresh potentialities and critical debates engendered by
philosophical dialogues embedded in all her novels.
Keywords: Murdoch, Romanian reception, novels, translation,
biography, critical response
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