David Lodge, British novelist who satirized academic life, has died
nytimes.com94 points by lermontov 6 months ago
94 points by lermontov 6 months ago
As a younger me, I dug out his e-mail address for a high school project and sent him a message with questions about Changing Places.
I still have the message I sent him in 2000 but can't find his reply, unfortunately, but I got to send two additional messages with questions. I was thrilled at the time to be able to contact a famous writer and tell my class afterwards about it.
RIP.
His Campus trilogy is and probably will be forever in the list of books that I recommend reading [1]. I really enjoyed reading those a lot during my PhD.
I first encountered his novel "Small World" in graduate school, and immediately became a fan. (It was on the reading list for one of my girlfriend's courses.) Along with other novels like "Lucky Jim" and "Straight Man" (and the other two novels in Lodge's campus trilogy), it was a hilarious look at campus life. He will be missed.
In this vein of work, I also heartily recommend Kingsley Amis' "Lucky Jim" (1954), which arguably began the "campus novel" genre.
Yes! Also Richard Russo's "Straight Man", which might be my favorite of all these novels about campus life.
You may also enjoy Stoner by John Williams.
Wonderful book. I'm not sure that 'enjoy' is quite the term I'd use. For sure some of the tribulations experienced by Stoner would not be news to some sufferers in academia right now.
"Nice work" was adapted for TV by the BBC in 1989 with Hayden Gwynne and Warren Clark beautifully cast in the leading roles.
Just watched the series on youtube based on your recommendation. Thanks, i enjoyed it!
Glad you liked it. The scene with the Jennifer Rush song is living free in my mind, when Warren Clark's infatuation breaks surface.
The Beeb did a version of "the history man" by Malcolm Bradbury which I think was OK, but a bit less successful. They're somewhat contemporary novels about academia. They also did several of the Tom Sharpe novels but they're generally more boisterous, picaresque stories.
I enjoyed the name Euphoria State University for his fictional model of UC Berkeley.
To combine this news with the AI zeitgeist, consider reading his 2001 novel, Thinks….
Yes, and the nice touch of situating Euphoria State University in the city of Plotinus.
Apart from his fiction, I can recommend his "The Practice of Writing" from 1996. Not so much for practical writing advice, but because it is an entertaining and interesting read. Even decades after reading it I particularly remember the anecdotes about Graham Greene and how he likely was as much a spy as he was a writer.
Don't miss out on "The History Man", by Malcolm Bradbury, another campus novel that is as dark as it is funny.
These are wonderful:
Louis Auchincloss, The Rector of Justin (1964)
Donna Tartt, The Secret History (1992)
The Secret History is a great story, and teenaged me came away badly misinformed about how many Bacchic cults I was likely to encounter in college.
I still remember laughing my butt off at the elevator (or 'lift'?) scene from Small World at the time.