THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 4, 1996 TAG: 9602010388
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Book Review
SOURCE: BY BERNICE GROHSKOPF
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
JACKSON'S DILEMMA
IRIS MURDOCH
Viking. 249 pp. $22.95.
The title character in Jackson's Dilemma appears on the doorstep of the London home of Benet Barnell, a former civil servant, who also owns a country estate where he spends his time writing essays on Heidegger. Jackson persistently tries to persuade Benet to hire him as a handyman, and Benet, suspicious at first, reluctantly takes him on to help at his estate, Penndean. The story opens as preparations are in progress for the wedding of Benet's young neighbor, Edward Lannion, the owner of Hatting Hall, who spends his time writing poetry and a historical novel.
The guests arriving for the wedding, Murdoch's usual group of privileged British intellectuals, come on the scene all at once. There are many names and non-descript faces: ``Owen? Was he the painter? Or was that Tuan?'' Personalities are never clearly defined except by name.
Edward will marry Marian, a union that Benet has encouraged. But with wedding preparations complete for the celebratory prenuptial dinner at Penndean, and the church in readiness, an unsigned note from the bride arrives mysteriously, saying she cannot marry Edward. Wild speculations and a frantic search ensue for Marian, who has vanished.
Iris Murdoch keeps the reader in suspense, hopping from the consciousness of one character to another, each of whom feels responsible for Marian's disappearance. A sense of guilt envelops all of the characters in the book except Jackson.
An exuberant storyteller who can write elegantly, Murdoch frequently lapses into short, expository sentences: ``He got up. He would feel better soon.'' Or, ``Edward was good-looking. He was tall and slim and pale. He was very well dressed . . . He was 28.'' The effect of this schoolgirl style, and the trashy dialogue between lovers, makes the reader wonder if the author is parodying mass-market romance novels. That does not explain, however, the bizarre lapse between pages 221 and 222 when the dialogue between two characters switches, without a break, to two other characters.
This is Dame Iris Murdoch's 26th novel. A scholar who has taught philosophy at Oxford, she has also published five plays, five philosophical works and a book of poetry. Now approaching 80, she is regarded as one of England's major contemporary literary figures; critics carefully analyze her works and the profound layers of philosophical meaning beneath the surface. Harold Bloom has called her a ``religious fabulist of an original and unorthodox sort''; A.S. Byatt has written a book about her. But while Murdoch has a large, loyal following, her detractors wonder if such characters as she creates actually exist.
In this novel, the literary and philosophical references are too numerous and too slight to give substance to the story, and the vague whispers of mysticism are not clear enough to identify. As in other works by Murdoch, the story revolves around a manipulative character, Jackson, who manages to take control of the lives of others. He is handyman, servant, electrician, carpenter, in other words, ``Jackson of all trades.''
While he remains a mystery he succeeds in guiding the confused lives of the other characters, pairing them off suitably and bringing the book to a happy close. References to Shakespeare's Prospero are pointed. It is no accident that the first service Jackson performs for Benet is to restore his electrical system which has suddenly gone dead. Jackson, the illuminator, the divine presence, guardian angel?
At the end of the story, when all's well and ends well, he asks himself if his powers have left him. Or, he wonders: ``Have I simply come to the end of my tasks?'' Is that Murdoch speaking, or is that perhaps Jackson's Dilemma? MEMO: Bernice Grohskopf is a free-lance book reviewer in Charlottesville who
specializes in 19th century British literature. by CNB