Here are a few additional perspectives on Murdoch and The Sea, The Sea:
At the Guardian: Booker club: The Sea, the Sea (to read) & The Digested Read with John Crace (link to audio)
At the Paris Review: The Art of Fiction, No. 117 (on craft)
H.H. Dalai Lama: Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World
(*****)
Maxine Hong Kingston: I Love a Broad Margin to My Life
Always ahead of the curve - written in verse. (*****)
Harold Bloom: The Anatomy of Influence: Literature as a Way of Life
Bloom's back! But then again, he never left. A return to his signature theme.