The Underground Man (1997) is a novel by Mick Jackson. It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for that year. It shows the life of an eccentric and reclusive Victorian Duke. His latest scheme involves building a set of tunnels beneath his estate.
Plot summary
The novel is told mainly in first person in the form of the Duke's diary but other characters also get small chapters. We see how the Duke uses his new set of tunnels. He is also constantly inflicted with mental and physical problems and we see the rather bizarre remedies he uses to cure himself. As the novel reaches its conclusion, the Duke becomes more and more unconventional; he steals a set of trephining equipment from a professor before using it to cut a hole in his own head whilst besotted with alcohol. Numerous extracts showing other people's views are used to show the descent into madness of the Duke. Near the end, he has taken to going into a park at night through his tunnels whilst naked. Eventually he is shot and killed by a hunter mistaking him for a wild beast.
