Elegy for Iris

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Elegy for Iris

John Bayley is the author of Shakespearean and Tolstoy books and was in matrimony for more than forty years to Iris Murdoch, who wrote postwar English literature. Iris Murdoch died in 1999 immediately after the publication of this book following her suffering from Alzheimer disease. The book presents a sad yet touching life coupled with the disintegration of a great mind. It gives insight into the survival of untimely English marriage. The book is charming, heart wrecking, and primarily has the capability to fuse momentum together with a lot of inspiration. Bayley writes with utmost love about the quirkily courtship and subsequent marriage that he had with his companion despite the tragedy that befell him. Murdoch has been an unfortunate victim of Alzheimer’s disease making Bayley resolve to be her caretaker. This becomes an action of gallant love, but every so often, he loses his grip. He expresses ”the unpleasant wish, virtually a coercion at some instances, to indicate to the reader the situation of things. This forces Murdoch to share the knowledge, which relieves what seems as isolation.

Alzheimer disease significantly affects the neuro-system by creating confusion, memory loss, aggression, irritability, language problems and mood swings. This is a declining condition that eventually leads to death. In spite of the distressing conditions, Bayley portrays his enduring love for the sickling wife meager prospects of survival. Elegy of Iris organizes into two sections; the time before and the current period. The current section describes the diary activities that the couple underwent in he last years of Iris. The past section is a plot that wanders between the past and present. This includes a juxtaposed memory of the couple’s earliest rituals such as swimming.

John Bayley first encounters Murdoch in his early twenties while she is in her thirties. At that time, he sees her ride by his window on a bicycle. This part reveals Murdoch’s intense love that she expresses since he clouds Iris in a mystical vision. It describes the beginning of a love affair that blooms into a fairy tale. Bayley is bruttaly honest and practical to the extent of revealing simple life that did not connect with the fashionables of the world. The book has double meanings that celebrates the mystery of human connection and the secrecy of Iris’ life that she kept from close individuals. In the end, Iris becomes carefree in her affairs and he expanse of intellectual movements till she breaks down from Alzheimer. Bayley enduring love pushes the couple to Iris’ death in 1999.

Despite his infrequent anger and foiling, he carries on loving and cherishing Irish because he does not forsake her. As the memories fade away, he recollects how he first loved her, wooed her and the flip of the coin where there was the springing of her jealousness. This happens when Bayley says:

This intimate feel, as if we could become naughty children together any moment, was enhanced by the somber dignity of the flat, which was full of rare books, good furniture glass (6).

The book vividly presents a intermingling of humor and despair that colors the daily life of love. However, a serious tragedy darkens this phenomenon.

Evaluation

Bayley is a good narrator who has the capability of elucidating the Alzheimer disease with an open mind. He illustrates their courtship with a great deal to detail even though he ignores other aspects of their lives terming them irrelevant. This raises the question if they had a balanced life. The book has two divisions whereby Bayley goes back to the past, enlightening his reminiscence of meeting and dwindling in love with Iris, and the present division that illustrates the way she transformed owing to the ailment and what it is engrosses to care for her amidst his past memories. A great deal of Iris’ description ensues throughout the book. In the process, Bayley ends up portraying his virtues. These virtues include patience, devotion, as well as a great deal of humor. He says:

By some emotional paradox, being in love made me, at least at first, more incurious about this, not less (Bayley 9).

Conversely, Iris is the most famous one and passionate towards hard work. Although he did not meet her until he was twenty-eight (while Iris was thirty-four), Bayley tells us that he loved her from the first sight. He describes his first vision of her from the window of his room. This description “indulged the fleeting fiction that nothing had ever occurred to her and that she was merely waiting for him.” Apparently, it is not clear on how she felt about thing. It does seem as though his life up to that point was simply about waiting for the vision of the “bicycle lady,” as he calls her. It took time before Bayley made him known to Iris because she had a tendency of other people surrounding and admiring her. It also took quite a few more years before he could convince her to marry him.

Bayley describes a relationship full of humor, challenges, and obstacles and an inspiring one throughout the book. He has created a correlation that everyone can associate with and learn from book. It describes marriage in a comical way by bringing out the merry times as well as the sad moments. The book is so full of frank and honest observations about Iris Murdoch’s disease. This phenomenon sounds familiar to anyone who has ever encountered Alzheimer’s patients. Surprisingly, the book holds a positive tone throughout, which is unexpected considering there was too much underlying depressions. This melancholy is apparent as Bayley discusses his life with Iris prior to the onset of her disease. He even meditates on the complexities of their relationship and describes the dutiful or at times seemingly heroic way in which he cares for his ailing wife. The book would be much better if it incorporated other aspects of their lives other than dwelling on their relationship. This would not only provide more understanding of their lives, but also paint marriage in a more in-depth vivid way. This is a book, which everyone can associate with and at the same time gain some knowledge from it. Bayley is a good narrator who has the capability of elucidating the Alzheimer disease with an open mind. He illustrates their courtship with a great deal to detail even though he ignores other aspects of their lives terming them irrelevant. Despite his infrequent anger and foiling, he carries on loving and cherishing Irish because he does not forsake her. The book vividly presents an intermingling of hilarity and anguish that ensigns the daily life of love. Bayley illustrates their courtship with a great deal to detail even though he ignores other aspects of their lives terming them irrelevant.

Work Cited

Bayley, John. Elegy for Iris. New York: Picador USA, 2000. Print.