Editing Under the Net (section)

{{Short description|Novel by Iris Murdoch}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox book | 
| name          = Under the Net
| image         = UnderTheNet.jpg
| caption       = Cover of the first edition
| author        = [[Iris Murdoch]]
| cover_artist  = Victor Ross<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Garland Publishing| isbn = 0824089103| last = Fletcher| first = John|author2=Cheryl Browning Bove| title = Iris Murdoch: a descriptive primary and annotated secondary bibliography| location = New York| date = 1994|page=127}}</ref>
| country       = United Kingdom
| language      = English
| genre         =
| publisher     = [[Chatto & Windus]]
| release_date  = 1954
| media_type    = Print
| pages         = 286pp
| isbn          =
| preceded_by   =
| followed_by   =
}}

'''''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.

It is dedicated to [[Raymond Queneau]]. When Jake leaves Madge's flat in Chapter 1, two of the books he mentions taking are ''[[Murphy (novel)|Murphy]]'' by [[Samuel Beckett]], and ''Pierrot mon ami'' by [[Raymond Queneau|Queneau]], both of which are echoed in this story. The [[Epigraph (literature)|epigraph]], from [[John Dryden]]'s ''[[The Pilgrim (play)|Secular Masque]]'', refers to the way in which the main character is driven from place to place by his misunderstandings.

In 2005, the novel was chosen by ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine as one of the one hundred best English-language novels since 1923.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20051019053903/http://www.time.com/time/2005/100books/the_complete_list.html The Complete List | TIME Magazine – ALL-TIME 100 Novels<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The editors of [[Modern Library]] named the work as one of the greatest English-language novels of the twentieth century.<ref>[http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnovels.html The Modern Library | 100 Best | Novels]</ref>