'You're sure she doesn't know,' said Georgie.
An edition of Une'Tete Coupee
(1961)
A Severed Head
by Iris Murdoch
- 19 Want to read
- 7 Have read
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Martin Lynch-Gibbon believes he can possess both a beautiful wife and a delightful lover. But when his wife, Antonia, suddenly leaves him for her psychoanalyst, Martin is plunged into an intensive emotional re-education. He attempts to behave beautifully and sensibly. Then he meets a woman whose demonic splendour at first repels him and later arouses a consuming and monstrous passion. As his Medusa informs him, 'this is nothing to do with happiness'.
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Subjects
Man-woman relationships, Fiction, British and irish fiction (fictional works by one author), Classic Literature, Literature, relationships, love, marriage, friends and lovers, Fiction in English, Interpersonal relations, Social life and customsPlaces
London, Cambridge, Japan, United States, New YorkShowing 7 featured editions. View all 41 editions?
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A Severed Head
August 26, 1963, Penguin (Non-Classics)
Paperback
in English
0670001406 9780670001408
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A severed head.
1961, Penguin Books in association with Chatto & Windus
in English
0140020039 9780140020038
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A Severed Head
January 1, 1961, Vintage/Ebury (A Division of Random House Group)
Hardcover
0701109807 9780701109806
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Book Details
First Sentence
"'YOU'RE sure she doesn't know,' said Georgie."
The Physical Object
Edition Identifiers
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Excerpts
added by lalala.
first sentence
Violence, except on the screen, is always pathetic, ludicrous, and beastly.
Page 145,
added by lalala.
Stood out to me
I am a severed head such as primitive tribes and old alchemists used to use, anointing it with oil and putting a morsel of gold upon its tongue to make it utter prophecies. And who knows but that long acquaintance with a severed head might not lead to strange knowledge.
Page 182,
added by lalala.
First mention of severed head as in the title
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- Created April 29, 2008
- 7 revisions
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| December 13, 2025 | Edited by MARC Bot | set source_records based on initial machine_comment |
| December 7, 2023 | Edited by kathrinpassig | Merge works (MRID: 100187) |
| August 6, 2010 | Edited by IdentifierBot | added LibraryThing ID |
| April 24, 2010 | Edited by Open Library Bot | Fixed duplicate goodreads IDs. |
| April 29, 2008 | Created by an anonymous user | Imported from amazon.com record |