Claim: Iris Murdoch was a novelist.

Dame Jean Iris Murdoch -LRB- -LSB- ˈmɜrdɒk -RSB- 15 July 1919 -- 8 February 1999 -RRB- was an Anglo-Irish novelist and philosopher , best known for her novels about good and evil , sexual relationships , morality , and the power of the unconscious . Her first published novel , Under the Net , was selected in 1998 as one of Modern Library 's 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century . In 1987 , she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire . Her books include The Bell -LRB- 1958 -RRB- , A Severed Head -LRB- 1961 -RRB- , The Red and the Green -LRB- 1965 -RRB- , The Nice and the Good -LRB- 1968 -RRB- , The Black Prince -LRB- 1973 -RRB- , Henry and Cato -LRB- 1976 -RRB- , The Sea , the Sea -LRB- 1978 , Booker Prize -RRB- , The Philosopher 's Pupil -LRB- 1983 -RRB- , The Good Apprentice -LRB- 1985 -RRB- , The Book and the Brotherhood -LRB- 1987 -RRB- , The Message to the Planet -LRB- 1989 -RRB- , and The Green Knight -LRB- 1993 -RRB- . In 2008 , The Times ranked Murdoch twelfth on a list of `` The 50 greatest British writers since 1945 '' .