Under the Net

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Ok, two things. First thing, Iris Murdoch was a 24 carat solid gold actual real world philosopher. At age 28 she was lecturing in philosophy at Oxford University, and she wrote the first book on Sartre in English. She was the hot potato of thinking real hard. But second thing is that I dragged my sorry ass over to the London Review of Books where I read my LAST FREE ARTICLE on Under the Net by Michael Wood (“Don’t Worry about the Pronouns”). He is a guy who thinks philosophy is oozing out of every pore of Under the Net, and this is because he thinks parts of this novel are an early parody of structuralist thought and that characters like Finn the silent moocher or Hugo the rich firework manufacturer represent particular Wittgensteinian arguments. 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.

John Wilson is a lifelong enthusiast for London the city and for London in literature, art and film. He came to London to study Physics at Imperial College and has lived in various parts of the city ever since. Aynı zamanda köpek Mister Mars ve kedi Maggie'nin kitaptaki insan karakterler kadar yer kaplaması, hikayelerinin olması çokça hoşuma gitti.

Iris Murdoch has a wonderful way with words, and can write ridiculously humorous episodes in a most entertaining way. Yet the more I think about his novel, the increasing plethora of cunning allusions I see, and the more brilliant Iris Murdoch’s achievement proves to be. Under the Net, from 1954, was the first published novel by Iris Murdoch, the distinguished academic, and professor of moral philosophy at Oxford University. As well as books on moral philosophy she wrote twenty-six critically acclaimed novels, one of which won the prestigious Booker prize. Yet Under the Net is sometimes dismissed as a light comic piece, in comparison with her later, lengthier novels. Certainly it can be read that way, as a humorous tale about a Bohemian young Irish man in London, Jake Donoghue, who occasionally earns a crust by translating trashy French novels, but by and large has avoided getting a job, and as the blurb says “sponges off his friends”. Jeeves," I said in a strained tone of voice. "Can you tell me what is this philosophy that you are going on about?" With an immensity of pains, Jake succeeds in reaching Hugo's room shortly after one in the morning. The conversation is not at all what he expected: Hugo is not at all angry with Jake, and it turns out that while Anna is indeed besotted with Hugo, Hugo himself is in love with Sadie, and Sadie with Jake—not a love triangle, but a one-way love diamond. Hugo demands that Jake help him escape. Jake does so, but they are seen by the hostile porter, Stitch, and Jake knows that he has lost his job.

However, appearances can be deceptive, and a closer look reveals that this novel is far more than that. Some critics now view it as her best work, and an excellent introduction to the philosophy of Existentialism. Dennis Wrong (2005) The Persistence of the Particular, chapter 1: The irreducible particularities of human experience, Transaction Publishers ISBN 0-7658-0272-4 And one more bit of heavy-duty philosophy. Remember the love rectangle? “Some situations can’t be unraveled.” lol Logical atomism, sir." Jeeves was ready with his answer. "As explained in the great philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein's Tractus Logico-Philosophicus. Newtonian mechanics, the philosopher says, capture the world through the equivalent of a net, or many nets. The mesh may be fine or coarse, and its holes of different shapes, but it will always be regular, will always bring description ‘to a unified form’. But the world will always defy our descriptions and slip 'under the net' - that is where the novel's title comes from, sir."Accomplished work my foot!" I exploded. "This tale of a dotty bounder who wanders around London, going on one continuous toot - I mean, there is hardly a scene where he is not having a drink - and getting the raspberry from one popsy after the other, until he winds up on the road with an aged Alsatian dog is considered an 'accomplished' work?" Ho iniziato a leggerla sicuramente perché la trovavo nominata spesso leggendo Arbasino. E ho cominciato proprio da qui e non da un altro dei suoi venticinque romanzi immagino per via della dedica: “a Raymond Queneau”. 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. 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). Interestingly, Under the Net was published just a year later in 1954, and later in her own life Iris Murdoch too, professed to be embarrassed by her novel, saying that the writing was immature and juvenile. Nevertheless Wittgenstein’s influence remained clear in all her novels; she repeatedly demonstrated that life could only be shown, and not explained.