Phineas Finn, the Irish member vs A severed head

Phineas Finn, the Irish member

Anthony Trollope

1867

Phineas Redux is a novel by Anthony Trollope. It is the fourth of the "Palliser" series of novels and the sequel to the second book of the series, Phineas Finn. After the death of his Irish wife, Phineas Finn returns to London and to the House of Commons. But though drawn back apparently irresistibly, he never approaches politics with the zest of earlier days. What Trollope describes, in some of his most powerful writing, is a sad, at times almost sombre, progress towards maturity and self-wisdom. Anthony Trollope (1815-1882) was one of the most successful, prolific and respected English novelists of the Victorian era. His first major success came with The Warden (1855) - the first of six novels set in the fictional county of Barsetshire. The comic masterpiece Barchester Towers (1857) has probably become the best-known of these. His satirical novel The Way We Live Now critics acknowledge as his masterpiece.

A severed head

Iris Murdoch

1961

In Iris Murdoch's "A Severed Head," a wealthy London academic's comfortable, if complacent, life unravels when his wife leaves him for a manipulative art dealer. As he navigates a series of increasingly bizarre and ethically questionable relationships with his former lover, his brother, and his ex-wife's new partner, he confronts the deceptive nature of love, desire, and identity. The novel explores the complexities of human connection and the search for truth within a world of intellectual pretense and emotional turmoil.