THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE MONTH. Cont'd.
thinks she use to exploit others' knowledge, particularly his own. He denies that she is a "real writer" because she "never had to suffer for having to write". Murdoch's memoirs suggest a sado-masochist streak within the relationship as she describes her desire to submit to the "great superb beast" Canetti: "He subjugates me completely. Only such a complete intellectual and moral ascendancy could hold me." But Peter Conradi, Murdoch's official biographer, told The Independent on Sunday: "Canetti thought he encouraged her writing. The venomous last notes are not a truthful record of their relations over 50 years. He was proud of her initially and also jealous of her. It was almost certainly Canetti who anonymously submitted her first novel for publication." A N Wilson, in his own controversial memoir of Murdoch, says however: "Canetti was a cruel man. Not only did he behave with physical violence to [Murdoch] during the acts of love ... but he was mentally sadistic."
Canetti on Murdoch...
Her intellect...: "Her book is very badly written, shoddy, like lectures that have not been edited enough. The tone is unpleasantly academic. That would not be so bad if she had something to say."
Her relationship to other intellectuals...: "Like a housewife going shopping"
Her artistic growth...: "I know how she arose, before my very eyes she assembled herself, a type of total parasite from Oxford."
Her novels...: Her 24 novels ... consist in all the Oxford tittle-tattle she absorbed in decades or half a century."
Her looks...: "Huge flat feet and the somewhat bulky legs"
Sex...: "She came to me from time to time and expected - without much ado - sex but always remained unmoved."
