Under the Net

Product Information

In this lightly comic novel about work, love, wealth and fame the main character is Jake Donaghue, a struggling writer and translator. He seeks to improve his circumstances and make up for past mistakes by reconnecting with his old acquaintance Hugo Belfounder, a mild mannered and soft-spoken philosopher. I put aside the book I was reading and rang for Jeeves. As he shimmied into existence beside me, I gave him a scathing look: I wanted him to know I was miffed. The 160 letters are to the popular French novelist, Raymond Queneau. They span 29 years, but most precede her marriage to the Oxford Professor of English Literature, John Bailey. She admired Raymond Queneau greatly as her mentor, looking to him both for intellectual stimulus and practical help. Queneau was a friend of Sartre: his works are said to have been a link between the Surrealists and the Existentialists. He was very interested in language, and some of his novels were written phonetically, rather than using conventional spelling. In some letters, Iris Murdoch wrote of the characters and plots she was working on. They show her filled with self-doubt, and even “hatred and contempt” for her writing, wondering whether she would “ever write something good”.

What if I try to be accurate?” Jake asked. Hugo’s response was: “One can’t be … The only hope is to avoid saying it … Language just won’t let you present it as it really is … [it] is a machine for making falsehoods … One must just blunder on. Truth lies in blundering on.”Si va al pub, si beve, si parla (lui, Jake, l’io narrante protagonista), l’amico del cuore Finn ascolta senza aprire bocca, e così sembra molto intelligente. Chiacchiere, pensieri, filosofeggiare, letteratura. Un po’ caotica, un po’ a zig zag, e strampalata, oltre che la sua vita, è la sua cerchia d’amici, a cominciare dalla grassa giornalaia che è piena di gatti (la prima edizione italiana fu intitolata I gatti ci guardano, sigh). What is more tormenting than a meeting after a long time, when all of the words fall to the ground like dead things, and the spirit that should animate them floats disembodied in the air? We both felt its presence.” Under the Net, Iris Murdoch’s first novel, might seem, at least in summary, fair game.It contains suspiciously European-sounding academics, Socratic argument, farcical semi-crimes, French translators, large affordable flats in Central London.Could anything be less attuned to this miserably populist, anti-intellectual, austerity-ridden xenophobic age?And, although its characters don’t have the establishment jobs, the beautiful gardens and romantic good fortune for which her later work is criticised, they are nonetheless fans of gauzy fabrics, Pernod and existentialism; they include a firework manufacturer, a celebrity German Shepherd, a fairly honest bookie and a taciturn taxi-driver.Everyone writes letters; the City of London is a Blitzed wasteland of rubble and fragile churches, full of willowherb and potential.What possible relevance could such a book have now? Under the Net is a 1954 novel by Iris Murdoch. It was Murdoch's first published novel. Set in London, it is the story of a struggling young writer, Jake Donaghue. Its mixture of the philosophical and the picaresque has made it one of Murdoch's most popular novels.

Le meditazioni ad alta voce, i dialoghi, gli sproloqui sono arguti, divertenti, profondi. Quel tanto che m’ha fatto proseguire la conoscenza leggendo qualche altro romanzo della Murdoch (che ne pubblicò ventisei). Accompanied by Mr Mars, Jake's search for Hugo takes him to Bounty Belfounder Studio, in South London. A huge crowd has gathered on a film set of Ancient Rome; they are listening to a political speech delivered by Lefty Todd. It is the first time in years that Jake has seen Hugo, and he drags him away to talk to him, but the sudden arrival of the United Nationalists causes a riot, and they have to run. Their attempts to escape the violence, which involve the improvised use of explosives, cause the collapse of the set. When the police arrive and announce that "no-one is to leave", Jake manages to evade questioning by telling Mr Mars to play dead, and carrying him out in his arms, supposedly to find a vet. For some time now I have been writing a novel, a continuation of one I started two years ago. If it turns out to be any use (about this I still don’t know), I shall dedicate it to you.” Iris Murdoch was never a student of Wittgenstein, but she did once meet him, and befriended Wittgenstein’s star pupil, Yorich Smythies. It is likely that she based Hugo’s character on Yorich Smythies.

Changes to the locations of the novel

Fletcher, John; Cheryl Browning Bove (1994). Iris Murdoch: a descriptive primary and annotated secondary bibliography. New York: Garland Publishing. p.127. ISBN 0824089103. To the different networks correspond different systems of describing the world, [and thus] this form is arbitrary.” Iris Murdoch is among my favorite writers. I’ve read 4 books by her so far (this is the 4th) and I was amazed with her capacity to touch psychology and philosophy at the same time, while focusing on crucial moments from the lives of her characters. I read “The Sea, The Sea” (her Man Booker Prize work) and I considered it stunning, but the other books I read by her were even more powerful than her award-winning novel. During the 1930s, Iris Murdoch had read for a first degree in “Greats” (Ancient History, Classics, and Philosophy) at Somerville College, Oxford. After graduating, she worked as a civil servant. (It was during this time that she wrote the unpublished novels.)

A second, bigger theme, developed in several discussions with another character, is ‘do you need a general theory or philosophy of life to get by?’ Or can you be a pragmatist and make your decisions by the seat of your pants. Obviously Jake has opted for the latter, and we even get to read excerpts from a book Jake is writing about all this. Under the Net tells the humorous adventures of Jake Donoghue, a picaresque hero, who was - significantly like the author - of Irish descent. Perhaps it is the mixture of the philosophical and the picaresque, which have made it one of Iris Murdoch’s most enduringly popular novels. In 1998, the editors of the American publishers “Modern Library”, named the work as one of the greatest English-language novels of the twentieth century. In 2005 Under the Net was chosen by the American magazine, “Time”, as one of the hundred best 20th century English-language novels from 1923 onwards. Ironically enough, Iris Murdoch herself was refused a visa to visit the United States, despite the fact that she had earned a scholarship from Vassar College in New York, because earlier, she had been a member of the Communist Party. She published this, her first novel, in 1954, so just before the similarly unhinged On the Road blew up the Beats. She was Irish, and you know how Irish novelists are. (Recent discussion: "Has there ever been a sane Irish author?")romanı olmasına rağmen en başarılılarından olduğu söyleniyor. Kişisel bir hesaplaşma hikayesi. Hem arkadaşlarıyla, hem kendiyle, yaptığı işlerle, para kazanma ve günü bitirme şekliyle. Dildeki mizah olay örgüsüne de yansımış ve gerçekten Jake'i anladım ben okurken :) Olay akışları o kadar doğal ki hiçbir şey sırıtmıyor. Antikahraman diye tanımlanabilir belki ama bence gerek yok. Jake" ولكن كسول ورافض لكل أشكال العمل النظامي. يعتنق آراء الجناح اليساري ولكن لا يشارك ولا يشتغل في السياسة بشكل إيجابي. مع تجاوبه وتعامله مع المحيطين به، نرى كيف تنشأ النزاعات والقرارات بشكل غير متوقع في الحياة الإبداعية، وشق طريقه في عالم الأدب والفلسفة. وحواراته الفلسفية مع صديقه "هوجو Hugo" الشخصية الغير مفهومة والغامضة، وقد رأيت أن شخصية هوجو هي حياتنا الغامضة وما يحيط بنا من عالم غير مفهوم بالكامل. يصارع بطلنا في عالمه وفي نهاية المطاف يحاول كتابة روايته الأصيلة عوضًا عن الترجمة وحياته المهلهلة الفوضوية. In Paris, Jake is amazed to discover that Jean-Pierre Breteuil's latest novel, Nous les Vainqueurs, has won the Prix Goncourt, and having dismissed Breteuil's work for so long he is amazed and envious. Madge's offer turns out to be a kind of film industry sinecure, and he finds himself refusing it with distaste for reasons that he cannot explain. In a way, the relationship between Jake and Hugo is one of artist versus saint. The role of the artist can be seen as to express and communicate ideas, putting them into some kind of form. The saint’s function, however, is contemplative: to be a medium through which ideas are born. Jake and Hugo are closest while they are part of a medical experiment. During this time they are able to spend their time discussing theories and philosophising. Hugo is seen to be the contemplative one, whose concepts are stronger than Jake’s. Hugo even states that some of the thoughts expressed in the book were a bit too deep for him. Arriving in Paris always causes me pain, even when I have been away for only a short while. It is a city which I never fail to approach with expectation and leave with disappointment. There is a question which only I can ask and which only Paris can answer; but this question is something which I have never yet been able to formulate. Certain things indeed I have learnt here: for instance, that my happiness has a sad face, so sad that for years I took it for my unhappiness and drove it away.”