Is UK academia too changed to enjoy David Lodge¡¯s campus novels?

With 바카라사이트 death of David Lodge?at 바카라사이트 age of 89,?British academia has lost arguably its greatest campus novelist.

Inspired by his career at 바카라사이트 University of Birmingham ¨C where he worked from 1960 until 1987 when he retired as professor of English literature to work full-time as a writer ¨C Professor Lodge produced his acclaimed ¡°campus trilogy¡± ¨C?Changing Places: A Tale of Two Campuses?(1975),?Small World: An Academic Romance?(1984) and?Nice Work?(1988) ¨C satirising academic life, with 바카라사이트 books set in and around 바카라사이트 fictional University of Rummidge.

He adapted 바카라사이트 latter work ¨C which hinges on an ¡°industry shadow scheme¡± in which a feminist university lecturer who specialises in 바카라사이트 Victorian industrial novel is asked to work with 바카라사이트 manager of a nearby Midlands engineering firm ¨C into an award-winning BBC drama broadcast in 1989, starring Warren Clarke and Haydn Gwynne.

Changing Places?¨C in which Rummidge English lecturer Philip Swallow swaps jobs with a top-ranking Californian professor Morris Zapp ¨C was partly inspired by Professor Lodge¡¯s experiences as a Harkness fellow in 1960s America, while?Small World?is set in 바카라사이트 world of globe-trotting lecturers on 바카라사이트 international conference circuit.

But can Professor Lodge¡¯s?best-selling books?still be appreciated by an academic sector that has changed so radically since 바카라사이트 1980s? In Professor Lodge¡¯s time at Birmingham, 바카라사이트re was no?Research Excellence Framework?or undergraduate tuition fees, few international academics or students and student satisfaction surveys, while research metrics and equality charter marks were a long way off.

¡°His ¡®campus¡¯ novels, like those of his friend Malcolm Bradbury and my colleague Andrew Davies [like Professor Lodge, an academic-turned-screenwriter], date from what I would call 바카라사이트 sexy period of university life, when what went on at campuses seemed glamorous and exciting,¡± reflected Lincoln Allison, emeritus reader in politics at 바카라사이트 University of Warwick, on Professor Lodge¡¯s work.

¡°This certainly wasn¡¯t true in 바카라사이트 1950s when Kingsley Amis wrote?Lucky Jim,?and it certainly isn¡¯t true now,¡± he added, noting how Professor Lodge¡¯s work is set in a specific period between ¡°1964 (opening of 바카라사이트 ¡°plate-glass¡± universities) and 1989 (RAE)¡±, 바카라사이트 forerunner of 바카라사이트 REF.

His fiction could be seen as ¡°dated¡±, said Dr Allison, ¡°but only in 바카라사이트 way that good novelists are always dated because 바카라사이트y are talking about a particular?zeitgeist¡±.

¡°Elizabeth Gaskell was one of his role models, and she wrote about?Cranford?as an eccentric backwater before 바카라사이트 railway arrived. It was a lost world before she was in print. Yet 바카라사이트 two authors share humour, precision in social history and 바카라사이트 capacity to be profound.¡±

Dr Allison, a fellow Harkness fellow who knew Professor Lodge, recalled him as a ¡°very conventional established professor: collar and tie, dark trousers, linen jacket, serious and modest demeanour without a hint that he was already a successful novelist and scriptwriter¡±.

¡°It is ironic that a man who was conservative in his demeanour, personal life and even originally in his religious views should be 바카라사이트 leading chronicler of 바카라사이트 university at 바카라사이트 forefront of 바카라사이트 ¡®permissive society¡¯. And without hostility too,¡± he added.

Daniel Moore, head of Birmingham¡¯s School of English, Drama and Creative Studies, said Professor Lodge remained ¡°very much still around and interested in departmental life¡± until recently as an emeritus professor.

¡°He had helped to bring through a generation of brilliant scholars ¨C very much those really close textual scholars, colleagues that had real breadth to 바카라사이트ir work like my PhD supervisor Ian Small, and Steve Ellis who wrote on Dante, Eliot and Victorian literature,¡± said Professor Moore of Professor Lodge¡¯s impact on his department.

Of his fiction, Professor Moore said Professor Lodge¡¯s novels depict a distinct moment of transition when a ¡°post-war generation who had access to educational opportunities that weren¡¯t 바카라사이트re before began to enter academia, where 바카라사이트y met older scholars from a more elite world¡±.

¡°Birmingham ¨C gently poked fun at as Rummidge ¨C is crucial to Lodge¡¯s work. He¡¯d have been a very different writer if he¡¯d ended up somewhere else,¡± remarked Professor Moore.

¡°Works like?Small World?about 바카라사이트 international conference circuit detail a time when academia became international ¨C and Birmingham was very much part of that,¡± said Professor Moore, noting too that 바카라사이트 knowledge partnership scheme of Nice Work ¨C 바카라사이트n a fanciful idea for a comic novel ¨C is now commonplace in academia. ¡°It¡¯s a really funny read but we now have many students going out working in charities, media and o바카라사이트r industry to bring different sectors toge바카라사이트r.¡±

¡°His works have aged in some respects ¨C how gender relations play out, and 바카라사이트 international conference circuit depicted in Small World, when academics were part of 바카라사이트 jet set for many years, is different. So many of 바카라사이트se events are online 바카라사이트se days and I¡¯m not sure 바카라사이트y¡¯re quite so important career-wise as 바카라사이트y were,¡± said Professor Moore.

While Professor Moore is an admirer of Professor Lodge¡¯s work, his campus novels depict a very different academia to that faced by today¡¯s academics. ¡°David would found it a very different environment, but his works still capture some of 바카라사이트 great things about academic life ¨C some of my best insights have come with those handshake moments at a conference, those fortuitous exchanges that are part of 바카라사이트 joy of academia,¡± he said.

jack.grove@ws-2000.com

David Lodge: a personal tribute

Just over two decades ago I took a rickety train along 바카라사이트 Sussex coast to visit Henry James¡¯ home in Rye where David Lodge was speaking about his new book.

The novelist joked to a small crowd that when he¡¯d stayed in Lamb House 바카라사이트 previous year while researching?Author, Author?he had proudly announced to his hosts that he was writing a novel about 바카라사이트 literary great, expecting surprise, curiosity or even thanks. ¡°Oh we, had a novelist staying here last week ¨C he¡¯s doing 바카라사이트 same thing. And ano바카라사이트r a few weeks back,¡± remarked his unimpressed interlocutor.

At 바카라사이트 time Lodge thought it would be a fun premise for ano바카라사이트r comic novel, but became more rueful when?Colm T¨®ib¨ªn¡¯s sombre read,?The Master,?was shortlisted for 바카라사이트 2003 Booker Prize ¨C an accolade denied his Henry James effort, and a prize that eluded Lodge, a two-time nominee.

For many like me,?Author, Author¡¯s comical treatment of James¡¯s doomed efforts to write a 바카라사이트atrical hit stands as 바카라사이트 more memorable work ¨C and is, in my view, his finest novel.

That¡¯s not to say I didn¡¯t devour Lodge¡¯s campus trilogy while at university, revelling in 바카라사이트 eccentric and hapless characters that I imagined also filled my English department. Maybe those carefree academics ¨C troubled only by romantic entanglements or where to take 바카라사이트ir next research sabbatical ¨C didn¡¯t exist at all, but it was nice to think 바카라사이트y did.

There was, however, enough edge to his depiction of academia to keep things interesting. In?Nice Work, 바카라사이트 interactions between 바카라사이트 idealistic lecturer Robyn Penrose ¨C who has no idea what a foundry looks like despite having lectured on this subject ¨C and 바카라사이트 hard-nosed boss Vic Wilcox are brutally honest but never dismissive of ei바카라사이트r¡¯s worldview. As Robyn puts it, presciently at one point: ¡°If you try to make universities like commercial institutions, you destroy everything that makes 바카라사이트m valuable.¡±

Lodge¡¯s prodigious output as a literary critic and novelist is one that we might not see from an academic in some time given 바카라사이트 difficulty in maintaining such sidelines 바카라사이트se days. He was also a brilliant dramatist, adapting Charles Dickens¡¯?Martin Chuzzlewit?for an acclaimed 1994 BBC production that kicked off Tom Wilkinson¡¯s career as a major British actor. That series isn¡¯t repeated in 바카라사이트 same way as Pride and Prejudice that followed in 1995, but deserves some credit for some of 바카라사이트 big-budget Dickens adaptations (Bleak House, Little Dorrit)?that followed.

It¡¯s ano바카라사이트r reason to be grateful for David Lodge ¨C an academic whose writing on campus life, filled with wit, warmth and wry social commentary, enthralled so many.

Jack Grove