艾丽丝·默多克早期作品受萨特的存在主义哲学思想的影响。她对人生基本上抱有悲观主义的看法,认为人是在充满偶然性的宇宙里偶然出现、漂浮不定的生物,因此不可能掌握自己的命运。默多克的作品主要探索迷失在混乱宇宙中的人如何求得真正的爱和自由,如何真正认识自己和理解他人,富于心理分析和哲学意味。在创造上,默多克基本上是传统派作家,但也接受了一些现代派的影响。她曾说对她影响最大的是莎士比亚,同时她也很推崇托尔斯泰、狄更斯、奥斯汀等19世纪现实主义作家。默多克是当代英国最重要的作家之一,也是艺术理论家、牛津大学的哲学家教授。在她的小说中,默多克表达了作家对艺术和艺术家本身的探索和理解,反映了何为真正的艺术家。 Alice Murdoch’s early works are influenced by Sartre’s existentialist philosophy. She basically holds a pessimistic view of life, believing that human beings are creatures that occasionally emerge and float in an accidental universe, so it is impossible to grasp their own destiny. Murdoch’s work mainly explores how people who are lost in a chaotic universe seek true love and freedom, how to truly understand themselves and others, and who are psychologically and philosophically rich. In creating, Murdoch is basically a traditional writer, but also accepted the influence of some modernists. She said Shakespeare had the biggest influence on her, and she was also a great 19th-century realist writer such as Tolstoy, Dickens, and Austin. Murdoch is one of the most important writers in contemporary England and is also an art theorist and philosopher professor at Oxford University. In her novel, Murdoch expresses the writer’s exploration and understanding of the arts and artists themselves, reflecting what constitutes a real artist.