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Under the Net
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Under the Net Paperback - 2002

by Iris Murdoch

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About this book

Published in 1954, Under the Net is the first novel by Anglo-Irish novelist, Iris Murdoch. The novel depicts the comedic struggles of Jake Donaghue, a striving young writer, to make it in the world and redeem himself for past faults. After getting kicked out of the house where he was freeloading, Jake finds his way to the workplace of his ex-girlfriend, Anna Quentin, who tells him to contact her sister, Sadie, for help. Jake quickly realizes that the two sisters have a connection to Hugo Belfounder, an old friend and philosopher who Jake betrayed by writing a novel about their philosophical conversations. After a series of misadventures, Jake and Hugo finally reconnect, and Jake reconciles with his past and ultimately realizes that his literary adventures are just beginning. Under the Net propelled Iris Murdoch to the public eye–it is known as one of her most popular novels. In 1998, Under the Net was selected as one of the books to appear in the Modern Library’s 100 Best Novels of the 20th-century list.

Summary

Iris Murdoch's first novel.Iris Murdoch's first novel is a gem - solid and sparkling. Set in a part of London, where struggling writers rub shoulders with successful bookies, and film starlets with frantic philosophers. Its hero, Jake Donaghue, is a drifting, clever, likeable young man who makes a living out of translation work and sponging on his friends. Meeting again, after some years, an old flame, Anna, he is led into a series of fantastic adventures. Iris Murdoch has wit, great power of invention and a knack for producing absurd incidents with a serious undertone and tender episodes with an edge of satire. Robust, full of flavour and panache, here is one of those rare novels which equally make one laugh and make one think.

Reader reviews for Under the Net

From the publisher

Iris Murdoch was born in Dublin in 1919 of Anglo-Irish parents, grew up in London and was educated at Oxford and Cambridge. She is the author of 26 novels and several works of philosophy. She died in 1999.

First line

WHEN I saw Finn waiting for me at the corner of the street I knew at once that something had gone wrong.

First edition identification

The first edition of Under the Net was published in the U.K. in 1954 by Chatto & Windus. This edition is hardcover, with a dust jacket which contains art by Victor Ross on the front cover.

Details

  • Title Under the Net
  • Author Iris Murdoch
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition Reprint
  • Pages 304
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Vintage Classics, London
  • Publication date 2002
  • ISBN 9780099429074 / 0099429071
  • Weight 0.81 lbs (0.37 kg)
  • Category Literature - Classics / Criticism
  • Dewey Decimal Code 823.914

Media reviews

“Iris Murdoch has imposed her alternative world on us as surely as Christopher Columbus or Graham Greene.” -- Sunday Times


From the Paperback edition.

About the author

Iris Murdoch was born in Dublin in 1919. After working in the Treasury and in the UN, she discovered philosophy, eventually becoming Fellow at St Anne's College, Oxford. Her philosophical concerns are at the heart of the 25 novels for which she became famous, gaining the Whitbread Prize for The Sacred and Profane Love Machine and the Booker Prize for The Sea, The Sea. Until her death in 1999, she lived in Oxford with her husband, the academic and critic, John Bayley. She wrote poetry all her life.

Rachel Hirschler is the lead transcriber with the Iris Murdoch Collections at Kingston University Archives. Miles Leeson, Anne Rowe and Frances White are leading academics and editors who have published widely on Iris Murdoch's life, philosophy and novels. Together they administer and contribute to the work of the Iris Murdoch Research Centre, the Iris Murdoch Society and the Iris Murdoch Review.

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by Murdoch, Iris

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by Iris Murdoch

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by Murdoch, Iris

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9780099429074 / 0099429071
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