New book puts Bayley's reputation at stake

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, MARCH 20. Professor John Bayley, the famous Oxford don and husband of the philosopher-novelist Iris Murdoch, finds himself at the centre of intense speculation over his new book ``Widower's House'', an account of his life after the traumatic death of Murdoch two years ago from Alzheimer's. The question being debated is whether it is ``real'' or fictional, and a definitive answer is crucial because it could decide if this 75- year-old academic and literary giant would go to bed with his reputation intact or dented.

Prof. Bayley's publisher Duckworth and his literary agent claim that it is a work of ``non-fiction'' - in other words, real, though key characters are given new names to protect their identity - but the Professor himself says it is all imagination, a product of ``daydreams.'' Critics are divided and those who believe that it is indeed a true account are furious because it is seen as a complete and shocking negation of Prof. Bayley's image, and an affront to the memory of Murdoch.

He was married to her for 44 years and his two books on his life with her - ``Iris: A Memoir of Irish Murdoch'' and ``Iris and the Friends'' - are regarded as a profoundly moving tribute to their relationship. He surprised many when within a year of Murdoch's death he married an old family friend Audi, and in ``Widower's House'' to be published this week, he shocks his admirers with his revelations about his ``affairs'' soon after Murdoch's death.

The book features two women - Margot a family friend; and Mella, a young postgraduate student - who moved into his house (on separate occasions, Margot first and Mella later) and seduced him on the pretext of keeping his house for him. The experience pleased Prof. Bayley and the account suggests no guilt or remorse on his part. Critics see this as his way of settling accounts with Murdoch for her ``affairs'' before and after they met.

Is he making it up? Prof. Bayley has added to the confusion with his ambivalent statements. ``When I was writing the book I told Audi that the women were before her time'', The Sunday Times quoted him, adding that ``later, I told her that they didn't exist''. He said both Margot and Mella were ``imaginary - a form of consolation for me at a bad time.''

So, why did he tell Audi that they happened before her time? And why do his publishers and literary agent insist that the ``two women were simply given fictional names so John (Bayley) could write about them with more freedom... he didn't want to cause them trouble''?

Whatever the answer, the controversy is likely to do no good to this highly respected former Warton Professor of English at Oxford and one of the tallest figures in literary criticism.

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