Under the Net Paperback – October 27, 1977

In his early period (specifically, in "Tractatus"), the Austrian-British philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein argued that the "net" of language both separates us from and connects us to the world: it simultaneously impedes and determines our understanding of life. He furthermore concluded that anyone who finally comprehended the meaning behind the language of "Tractatus" would realize that its arguments were senseless; to quote the Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, the reader can "throw away the ladder after climbing up on it" and experience the world directly through contemplation rather than through philosophical discussion. "Under the net" of language, then, lie the truths of the world.

Yet it's not essential to have an understanding of Wittgenstein to enjoy the zany farce of Murdoch's novel, whose characters are hunters of truth in its pure manifestations (love and freedom), as well as its illusory aspects (money and success). The chief seeker is Jake Donaghue, short of cash and without much prospect for any meaningful source of income. Jake has been freeloading in a friend's apartment; when she becomes engaged to be married, he's homeless as well as poor. Along with his sidekick, Finn (who serves as a less dependable Jeeves to Jake's ungentlemanly Wooster), he sets out in search of a new home and instead embarks on a series of adventures: a peek at a bizarre theatrical performance by mimes, a night of pub-crawling, a day at the races, a dog-napping, and a visit to a film studio whose riotous outcome prefigures, as much as anything, the finale of "Blazing Saddles."

During his journey, Jake runs across three old acquaintances: a former girlfriend; her sister, a famous actress; and most important, Hugo Belfounder, who had been a fellow patient at a clinic testing inevitably unsuccessful cures for the common cold. During alternating bouts of deliberately induced illness, the pair held philosophical conversations, to which Hugo contributed nearly all of the original thoughts. Jake in turn converted these pronouncements into a book, "The Silencer," published without telling his new friend. Only after he'd finished the book, however, did Jake realize that the profundity of Hugo's opinions had been frustrated by his own attempt to render them into words. Jake's embarrassment over both his deceit and his failure had caused him to break ties unceremoniously with Hugo, who has since become a filmmaker. (Although this suggestion of truths masked by language is one of the more overt allusions to "Tractatus," biographer Peter Conradi points out that the character of Hugo is based not on Wittgenstein but on a Cambridge friend of Murdoch's who was the philosopher's star pupil.)

There are a number of wildly unpredictable and often absurd subplots involving the four old friends, all based on the miscommunication that results because each of them is in love with another, but none of them is in love with each other. It's a circle of love right out of an Elizabethan drama.

In spite of its philosophical borrowings, Murdoch's first novel is her most fast-paced--and it's certainly her wackiest. At times, it's even downright silly, and looking for meaning in the fun is like tracking down the literary references in a Buster Keaton film (they exist--but does it really matter?). Once you get past the surface trappings of its metaphysics, you can simply enjoy the screwball comedy of "Under the Net."

Jake Donaghue is the free-spirited center of this luminous novel about a man who drifts confidently through his life mooching off friends, chasing dreams, and never once realizing how much time and talent he is wasting while in orbit around himself. Ejected from his latest rent-free living arrangement by a woman friend who finds a "real" boyfriend and wants her flat to herself again, Jake and his dreamy sidekick, Finn, run off to their buddy Dave's house to try to find another (free) flatmate or two.
The journey is hilarious and pitiful at the same time. Jake truly lives for the moment. Just as the reader adjusts to Jake's newest situation, he jettisons himself into a new place, new relationships, new goals, even a new pet dog which he steals for his own leverage purposes, then becomes too attached to give the pooch back. He revisits a long-ago incident of dishonesty with a former friend, chases the elusive shadow of an old girlfriend, and finally comes face to face with the man he cheated long ago. All along one gets the uncomfortable, prickly feeling that Jake is running, running, hiding from the truth: the truth about the book he wrote that stole another's words and insights; the truth about who he could have been if he hadn't been so shiftless. The title of the book, in my humble opinion, is a metaphor of how truth catches us, in contrast to the popular notion of seeking after truth. Murdoch presents truth as a hunter and humanity as the prey. We make our wild attempts to fool Truth, as Jake does all through this delightful and powerful novel, but in the end, Truth triumphs and we are caught "under the net" like an insect caught for a collection under glass.
Great fun, but do be careful. The net is poised over you, just as it is over Jake!

Watched a movie about Iris Murdoch and her battle with Altzheimers, so I decided to read one of her books, starting with the earliest. Since she was a philosopher, there is some philosophy in the book, but it's manageable. The main character is likeable, but not loveable, and doesn't seem to get anywhere. But it's a good journey!

Murdoch uses beautiful language to express her in-depth philosophical analysis of modern human beings. I have yet to be disappointed in any of her books and have recommended and passed many of them on to my friends. They are not examples of an "easy read," nor are they full of happy endings. They are, as many good pieces of literature, examples of how our lives are actually led with many unsolved issues, and they leave the reader with a vaguely unsettled mind with much to ponder about themselves and others.