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''An Accidental Man'' is a novel by Iris Murdoch. Published in 1971, it was her fourteenth novel. The complex story is set in London and involves a large number of characters, many of whom are related to each other by family or marriage. The "accidental man" is the hapless but charming Austin Gibson Grey, whose actions drive much of the plot. His long-estranged wealthy older brother, recently retired to England after a career spent abroad, is drawn into covering up Austin's misdeeds and accidents. A second plot line involves Ludwig Leferrier, a young American academic who has resolved to stay in England in order to avoid the draft, but struggles with his decision throughout the book. The book's main moral theme is the individual's responsibility to others. Coincidence and accident play a major role in the plot, in which the efforts of supposedly well-meaning characters to help each other often fail, while others fail to act when they could be of help. ''An Accidental Man'' was generally well received by contemporary reviewers, who viewed it as mainly a comic novel. ==Plot== The novel is set in London. The plot involves a large number of characters who are related to each other by family or acquaintance. The "accidental man" of the title is Austin Gibson Grey, a middle-aged man who has lost his job and is living apart from his mentally fragile second wife Dorina. Austin's older brother, Sir Matthew Gibson Grey, has returned to London after a successful diplomatic career. The two brothers have been estranged for many years. Austin blames his brother for having injured him when they were children, leaving him with a deformed right hand, and for having had an affair with his first wife, both of which accusations Matthew denies. Matthew tries to reconcile with his brother, whose actions and accidents drive much of the plot. The novel begins with the engagement of Ludwig Leferrier, a young American historian, to Gracie, the daughter of George and Clara Tisbourne. Ludwig has decided to remain in England after a scholarship year in Oxford, rather than return to the United States. He is opposed to the Vietnam War and expects to be arrested for having avoided the draft if he goes home. Ludwig gets a job teaching at an Oxford college. Gracie's wealthy grandmother dies and leaves all her property to Gracie, despite the fact that her daughter Charlotte, Clara's sister, had lived with her and looked after her during her illness. During the course of the novel Ludwig begins to question his relationship with Gracie, who does not share his intellectual and moral seriousness, and who discourages him from trying to help Dorina and Charlotte. He also doubts his own motivation for staying in England. Other important characters include Austin's son Garth, who had been Ludwig's friend as a student at Harvard, and who also returns to London at the outset of the novel; Dorina's sister (and Matthew's lover) Mavis, a social worker who has lost her religious faith; and Mitzi Ricardo, a former star athlete whose career was ended by a freak accident and who works as a typist. Austin, with whom she is unrequitedly in love, rents a room in Mitzi's house. Austin, driving Matthew's car while drunk, hits and kills a child. With Matthew's help, Austin manages to escape police suspicion, but the child's father starts blackmailing him. In an altercation in Austin's room Austin hits him on the head, apparently killing him, and calls on Matthew, who helps him to make the death look like an accident before calling the police. In fact, the man is not dead, but suffers brain damage and memory loss, so the crime is undetected. Both Mitzi and Charlotte attempt suicide by taking overdoses of sleeping pills, but both are rescued in time and are taken to recover in the same hospital ward. They end up living together in a cottage in the country. Austin's wife Dorina, having left Mavis's house where she had been staying, goes into hiding in a hotel, where she dies accidentally when an electric heater falls into her bathtub. Shortly before her death she and Ludwig had seen each other in the street, but ignored each other. Ludwig is remorseful about his failure to approach her and feels that his reticence may have contributed to her death. Ludwig decides to break off his engagement with Gracie and return home, where he may be drafted or arrested. At the end of the novel he is on his way to the United States, accompanied by Matthew, who had helped him make the decision to go back. Garth, who has become a successful novelist, marries Gracie, while Austin starts a new relationship with his brother's abandoned lover Mavis. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「An Accidental Man」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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