Courage and Truthfulness

The novels of Iris Murdoch, Doris Lessing and V.S.§Naipaul are §studied in the light of statements they have made in§essays and §interviews regarding the ethical implications of§writing fiction. The §purpose of this research is to examine the nature of§the problems §they have identified in the creative process of§writing and the §strategies each has used to address the ethical§problems they §perceive, and to assess the relative success of their§chosen methods. §It can be seen that, although for each of them the§quest for truth is §their highest concern, they have each developed very§different ways §of dealing with the problems they believe are§connected with writing §truthfully, and in addition, they have defined the§particulars of these §problems in different ways. It is concluded that the§more carefully §examined and individually defined these problems are,§the greater §the internal consistency and credibility which is§achieved by the §strategies they have developed to address the§problems, and the §more their work has developed in the course of their§careers.