A fairly honourable defeat ([New ed.])

In this dark comedy of errors, Iris Murdoch portrays the mischief wrought by Julius, a cynical intellectual who decides to demonstrate through a Machiavellian experiment how easily loving couples, caring friends, and devoted siblings can betray their loyalties.

As puppet master, Julius artfully plays on the human tendency to embrace drama and intrigue and to prefer the distraction of confrontation to the difficult effort of communicating openly and honestly.