Under the net

First lines

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

About this book

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.

Themes & subjects

About the author

Iris Murdoch

15 July 1919 – 8 February 1999

Iris Murdoch was an Irish-born British author and philosopher, best known for her novels about sexual relationships, morality, and the power of the unconscious. Her first published novel, Under the Net, was selected in 2001 by the editorial board of the American Modern Library as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. In 1987, she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.([Source][1].) [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iris_Murdoch