The sequence of letters to Rachel Fenner comprises about 215 autograph letters, together with 85 autograph postcards and other notes from Iris Murdoch written between 1964 and 1993. Rachel Fenner is a highly respected environmental sculptress and public artist, and was anxious that these letters should remain in the UK. Fenner was a student at the Royal College of Art in the early 1960s when she first met Iris Murdoch, who taught philosophy to students there between 1964 and 1968.
The two women became emotionally and intellectually entwined, and when Murdoch researched the cityscape setting of her 1969 novel, Bruno’s Dream, she did so with the help of Rachel Fenner. Fenner admits to being ‘obsessed’ with Murdoch, and their friendship remained close until the 1970s, when Murdoch encouraged her to marry. They remained in contact by letter, with occasional meetings, until the 1990s, when Murdoch’s Alzheimer’s meant that she was unable to recognise any of her friends.
The letters add significant biographical and psychological detail to currently available profiles of Iris Murdoch. They are now available to researchers and the public in the University’s Special collections and a selection of these letters will be published in Living on Paper: Selected Letters from Iris Murdoch 1934-1995, edited by Anne Rowe and Avril Horner, to be published by Chatto & Windus in 2015.