In a 1968 interview, Iris Murdoch commented that she would like to create a novel “made up entirely of peripheral characters, sort of accidental people like Dickens’ people, this would be a very much better novel” (W.K. Rose,

19:2 (1968) 11).

(1971), which juxtaposes the themes of contingency and accident against the author’s use of narrative patterns and form, is Murdoch’s attempt at such a novel. Containing an enormous cast and a rambling plot, this work can also be described as one of Murdoch’s “open” novels, one that “contains a lot of characters who rush about independently, each one eccentric and self-centred; the plot to some extent situates them in a pattern but does not integrate them into a single system” (Anon,

, November…

2068 words

Citation: Grimshaw, Tammy. "An Accidental Man". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 February 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=10011, accessed 24 November 2024.]