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    A Study Guide for Iris Murdoch's "Under the Net"
    A Study Guide for Iris Murdoch's "Under the Net"
    A Study Guide for Iris Murdoch's "Under the Net"
    Ebook40 pages31 minutes

    A Study Guide for Iris Murdoch's "Under the Net"

    By Gale and Cengage

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    About this ebook

    A Study Guide for Iris Murdoch's "Under the Net," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Novels for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Novels for Students for all of your research needs.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCengage Learning - Gale
    Release dateJun 15, 2016
    ISBN9781535841849
    A Study Guide for Iris Murdoch's "Under the Net"

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      Book preview

      A Study Guide for Iris Murdoch's "Under the Net" - Gale

      1

      Under the Net

      Iris Murdoch

      1954

      Introduction

      Under the Net, published in 1954 in London, was Iris Murdoch's first published novel. It relates the humorous adventures of Jake Donahue, a male protagonist who many critics believe is closely based on the author herself. Jake is described by Cheryl K. Bove in Understanding Iris Murdoch as a failed artist and picaresque hero, a sentiment that Murdoch attributed to herself at the time she wrote this book. Although Murdoch was later embarrassed by Under the Net because she felt the writing was immature, other critics have hailed it as one of her best works. It is rated ninety-fifth on Random House's top 100 novels of the twentieth century, and it marked the beginning of a long and distinguished career for Murdoch, who went on to write twenty-five additional works of fiction, as well as several books on moral philosophy, one of her favorite topics. Under the Net can be read simply as a fascinating story of a crazy artist who loves serendipity or on a deeper level as an existential, absurd reflection on life.

      Author Biography

      Iris Murdoch was one of the most productive and influential British novelists of her generation, writes Richard Todd in his book Iris Murdoch, and a powerfully intellectual and original theorist of fiction. In other words, she could write a good story and also thoroughly understood the underlying concepts of her craft.

      Although Murdoch was born July 15, 1919, in Dublin, Ireland, to a family with a long history of Irish descent, she grew up in London and only returned to her homeland for holidays in her childhood. Her binational identity not only affected her personality it was also often reflected in her novels, which are known for their strong sense of place.

      Murdoch was an only child. She has referred to her relationship with her parents and her memories of her youth as being very happy. Her father, Wills John Hughes, was a civil servant who was a cavalry officer in World War I. Her mother, Irene Alice Richardson, was a trained opera singer. In the 1930s, Murdoch attended Somerville College in Oxford and upon graduation worked in the Treasury Department as a civil servant. During this time, she wrote five novels, none of which were published.

      During World War II, Murdoch left the Treasury and joined the United National Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. She was transferred to Belgium and then Austria,

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