Guarda e passa : Iris Murdoch's Use of Dante

Abstract: This essay offers an assessment of Iris Murdoch's use of Dante. After brief biographical considerations, Murdoch's use of Dante is traced through her novels and philosophical works, especially The Bell, The Green Knight, The Black Prince, A Severed Head , and Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals . Though Murdoch repeatedly references Dante, she rarely engages his work with sustained attention, and she is ultimately indecisive about Dante. The essay argues that Murdoch follows the advice Virgil gives to Dante in Inferno III concerning the Indecisive: Guarda e passa --"Let us not talk about them but take note and pass on."