num_pages: 275
description: With remarkable tenderness, John Bayley recreates his passionate love affair with Iris Murdoch--world-renowned writer and philosopher, and his wife of forty-two years--and poignantly describes the dimming of her brilliance due to Alzheimer's disease. Elegy for Iris is a story about the ephemeral beauty of youth and the sobering reality of what it means to grow old, but its ultimate power is that Bayley discovers great hope and joy in his celebration of Iris's life and their love. In its grasp of life's frailty and its portrayal of one of the great literary romances of this century, Elegy for Iris is a mesmerizing work of art that will be read for generations. 
language: English
title: Elegy for Iris
titlecomplete: Elegy for Iris
characters: Iris Murdoch, John Bayley
genres: 20th Century, Biography, Love, British Literature, Writing, Mental Health, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir, Literature, Memoir
ratings_count: 2981
places: Oxford, Oxfordshire, England
series: The Iris Trilogy
awards: awardedAt: 915177600000
name: Borders Original Voices Award
category: Nonfiction
publisher: Picador