The Unicorn by Iris Murdoch is like Wuthering Heights by the sea. In a terrain as ancient and wild as the human brain, two houses also represent different aspects of the psyche. 'Riders' is the intellect, reason and the superego governed by a guru of classical philosophy. 'Gaze' is a compound for the elemental, violent and sexual under the control of a homosexual enforcer. Gaze is nearest the violent ocean and is continually subject to the activity of the unconscious. The other characters (and the reader) travel, physically and emotionally, between these three psychic edifices and, in doing so, demonstrate the moral basis of the novel.
Upon reflection, the heroes of the book are Alice and Dennis who are, ultimately, the only characters to follow a path of existential bravery and to know themselves. The others, embroiled in their narrow fixations, end up dead, speechless or worst of all: like Effingham - unable to free themselves from the moorings of recived wisdom.
A fascinating and instructive book which trancends the format of the novel.
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