The Campus Novel: Kingsley Amis, Malcolm [631498]

`The Campus Novel`: Kingsley Amis, Malcolm
Bradbury, David Lodge – a comparative study

Lucie Mohelníková

Bachelor Thesis
2009

***scanned submission page 2***

ABSTRAKT

Hlavním zám ěrem této práce nebylo pouze p řiblížit žánr “univerzitního románu” a jeho
nejznám ější britské autory, ale také vysv ětlit a ukázat, pro č se univerzitní romány
Kingsleyho Amise a jeho následovník ů Malcolma Bradburyho a Davida Lodge t ěší tak
velké popularit ě. Každý z t ěchto autor ů m ěl sv ůj osobitý styl psaní a vytvo řil
nezapomenutelný satirický román.

Klí čová slova: rozlobení mladí muži, Hnutí, Jim Dixon, Stuart Treece, Phillip Swallow,
Morris Zapp, univerzitní román

ABSTRACT

The main intention of this thesis is not only to in troduce the genre of “campus novel” and
its most known British authors but also to explain and demonstrate why the campus novels
by Kingsley Amis and his successors Malcolm Bradbur y and David Lodge are that much
popular. Each of these authors had his own individu al style of writing and created an
unforgettable satiric novel.

Keywords: Angry Young Men, The Movement, Jim Dixon, Stuart Treece, Phillip
Swallow, Morris Zapp, campus novel

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank my supervisor Mgr. Barbora Ka špárková for her kind help and
guidance throughout my thesis.

DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY
I hereby declare that the work presented in this th esis is my own and certify that any
secondary material used has been acknowledged in th e text and listed in the bibliography.

March 13, 2009

…………………………… ………

CONTENT

1 CAMPUS NOVEL………………………………… …………………………………………… …………..9
2 POST-WAR PERIOD……………………………… …………………………………………… ………11
2.1 EDUCATION…………………………………… …………………………………………… ……………..11
2.2 ANGRY YOUNG MAN, THE MOVEMENT…………………. ……………………………..11
2.3 KINGSLEY AMIS……………………………….. …………………………………………… ………….12
2.4 LUCKY JIM…………………………………… …………………………………………… ……………….14
3 THE PERMISSIVE SIXTIES……………………….. …………………………………………… …17
3.1 MALCOLM BRADBURY…………………………….. …………………………………………… …18
3.2 EATING PEOPLE IS WRONG……………………….. …………………………………………… 20
4 THE UNGOVERNABLE SEVENTIES……………………. ……………………………………22
4.1 DAVID LODGE…………………………………. …………………………………………… ……………23
4.2 CHANGING PLACES……………………………… …………………………………………… ……..25
5 COMPARATIVE STUDY……………………………. …………………………………………… ….28
5.1 LUCKY JIM…………………………………… …………………………………………… ……………….28
5.2 EATING PEOPLE IS WRONG……………………….. …………………………………………… 30
5.3 CHANGING PLACES……………………………… …………………………………………… ……..31

INTRODUCTION

Kingsley Amis, Malcolm Bradbury and David Lodg e belong among campus novel
writers. This “small but recognizable subgenre” 1 of contemporary fiction became popular
in the 1950s with the publication of Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis and since that time a
number of successors have developed together at uni versities. The novels of these authors
are often compared with Lucky Jim and they also admit being inspired by Amis.
The primary, but not the main, purpose of my t hesis is to briefly introduce decades that
are connected with the chosen novels and demonstrat e contemporary social background,
which is reflected in the fictions. Consequently I am going to introduce the authors, their
academic experience and other works, because all of these factors influenced their novels.
I am also going to illustrate humour in the campus novels Lucky Jim (1954) by Kingsley
Amis, Eating People is Wrong (1959) by Malcolm Bradbury, and Changing Places (1975)
by David Lodge.
The text of the thesis is divided into five ch apters. In the first chapter I will introduce
the genre of campus novel. The body of the thesis i s formed in chronological order,
therefore the post-war time and the period of the 1 950s is connected with Kingsley Amis
and his novel Lucky Jim. The following part deals with 1960s, Bradbury, and Eating
People is Wrong. In the third part I analyze the 1970s together with David Lodge and his
Changing Places . All of these three chapters are introduced by a s hort outline of major
changes and typical features of the given decade. T he last part of the thesis is focused on a
comparative study of these novels with regard to hu mor.

1 Eric Leuscher, “Academic Memoir” Minnesota Review , Fall 2006: 137.

1 CAMPUS NOVEL

In Anglo-Saxon countries, especially in Great Britain, humoristic literature is
represented especially by the Campus novel, a genre that became increasingly popular
during the post-war decades. This genre is also lab eled as “University novels” or
„Academic novels“, and has taken university as its subject , adds Lambertsson 2
Nevertheless, Bradbury is aware of the necessity to differentiate between terms “campus
novel“ and “university novel“.
Atlas of Literature fills in that the genre of campus novel emerged after Second World
War and is situated into real or fictional universi ty surroundings and it is comic in its
principle. The origins of university novels can be tracked back to 1850s when the novel
The Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green by Cuthbert Bede was published. Notable authors of
this genre are Zuleika Dobson or Copton Mackenzie, who published their works at the
beginning of 20th century. 3
Force of terms “academic novel“ and “campus no vel“ are identical, the difference
sequent on American origin of word ”campus“. Lodge also take a term “varsity novel“ into
account. Main characters of these novels are studen ts rather than teachers and their setting
is Oxford or Cambridge university. These novels wer e popular before the war and were
forerunners of campus novels.
This literary genre has as well as other genre s its subgenres and various trends. We
should referred to Agatha Christie as a representat ive of respectable subgenre, which is
called Campus murder mystery. In America was born t rend that drew inspiration with
scientific branch and it’s connected with such writ ers as Jonathan Lethem and Richard
Powers.4
The campus novel originated in 1940s at Americ an universities. The first campus novel
is considerd to be Groves of Academe written by Mar y McCarthy. It was published in
1952 in United States. Successors of Groves of Academe were Randall Jarrell´s Pictures
From

2 See Eva Bjork Lambertsson, Campus Clowns and the Canon: David Lodge´s Campus Fi ction (Stockholm:
Umea University, 1993), 9.
3 See Malcolm Bradbury, The Atlas of Literature ( London: De Agostiny Editions Griffin House, 1996), 27 4.
4 See Aida Edemariam, “Who`s Afraid of the Campus Nove l?“ The Guardian , October 2, 2004, Features&
reviews section.

an Institution and Vladimir Nabokov’s Pnin. .5 First campus novel written in Britain was
Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis. He together with Malcolm Bradbury and David Lodge
belongs to most famous authors of Campus novel. The main characters of campus novels
are teachers of humanities. They are lecturers at t he department of English; some of them
even give lectures on English literature. They ofte n clash with a chief of department or
have views that are in conflict with views of their s students, however the sense of their
lives is not work their way up. Their lives are dis arranged and go along with fairy or
notable blunders. Characteristic themes of these no vels are success or failure, love affairs,
and students’ strikes; Hilský presents typical feat ures of the genre. 6
The Genre of Campus fiction is popular and rea d not only in academy environment but
also off campus. Almost 200 titles of campus fictio n were published in Britain between
years 1945 and 1979 and more over 400 novels in Uni ted States. Lucky Jim was within
two years after its first publishing reprinted 15 t imes. 7 These numbers are well-spoken
evidence of campus novel popularity. David Lodge ex plains the secret of campus novels
success consequently: “academic conflicts are relat ively harmless, safely insulated from
the real world and its sombre concerns. “ 8
In the fifties, when the genre originated univ ersities were a suitable scene for solving
social and politics problems, which occured in Brit ish society. They were places, where
educational standards and cultural values were eval uated, and where a more benevolent
society was formed. At the end of the seventies the campus novel became a typical novel
genre, distinguished by satiric humor often escalat ing to farce. The genre was not constant
in its form; it has naturally changed with developm ent of society and universities
themselves. 9

5 See Lambertsson, Campus Clowns and the Canon: David Lodge´s Campus Fi ction, 9.
6 See Martin Hilský, Sou časný britský román ( Praha: H&H, 1992.), 104 (My translation)
7 See Lambertsson, Campus Clowns and the Canon: David Lodge´s Campus Fi ction, 10.
8 Eva Bjork Lambertsson, Campus Clowns and the Canon: David Lodge´s Campus Fi ction (Stockholm:
Umea University, 1993), 37.
9 See Bradbury, The Atlas of Literature , 27.

2 POST-WAR PERIOD
2.1 Education
After the end of World War II new social-refor m laws were passed, and Britain became
a welfare state. In 1944, Butler Education Act radi cally changed educational system in
Great Britain. The school-leaving was raised to 16 years and secondary schools became
free. 10 The Act allowed university scholarships and social rise for pupils, notwithstanding
their social background. Also Amis, Bradbury and Lo dge, all of lower-class origin,
benefited most from the provisions of this act.
2.2 Angry Young Man, The Movement
In 1956, revolutionary play Look Back in Anger by the young dramatist John Osborne,
which was revolutionary in its bitterness, its lang uage, and its setting, introduced a great
boom of post-war British drama and influenced many contemporary writers. From the play
Look Back in Anger is derived the title “Angry Young Men“, which is a label for the group
of authors, who created a new character of young, f rustrated, and individualistic
intellectual that is not content with post-war soci al situation. He came from lower-class
origin; Act of 1944 obtained education and opportun ity of social rise to him. Typical
example of this new prototype of character is Amis’ s Jim Dixon. Other “angry” authors
were Malcolm Bradbury, Allan Sillitoe, Colin Wilson , and John Braine. Despite of their
label, they were independent, without a common prog ramme. However, they were united
by the style of their writing. “Angry Young Men” ar e associated with the group of poets,
which was established during early 1950s.
They are called “The Movement” according to th e article title “In the Movement“,
published in 1954 in the Spectacor. „The Movement” was a label given to Amis, D.J
Enright, Thom Gunn, Donald Davie, and Philip Larkin . 11 In their poems they criticized the
Welfare State and products of wartime planning. Con trary to “Angry Young Men,” they
were not united by their class origin, but by antip athy to the cultural demands of Bohemia
and Bloomsbury, and by elitism of Modernist writing . 12

10 See Andrew Sanders, The Short Oxford History of English Literature ( Oxford: University Press, 2004),
593.
11 See Hilský, Sou časný Britský román , 7. (My translation)
12 See Sanders, The Short Oxford History of English Literature , 612.

2.3 Kingsley Amis
Kingsley Amis, the English novelist, poet, cri tic and teacher was born on April 16,
1922 as the only son of a senior clerk, and grew up in lower middle class atmosphere at
London’s suburban area Croydon. Had studied at St. John’s College, Oxford, where he was
a contributor of verses to university magazines and a member of left wing political
movement Labour Club. After graduating at Oxford, h e stayed there as a research student.
From 1949 until 1961 he lectured on English at the University College of Swansea, and
worked as Visiting Fellow in Creative Writing at Pr inceton University. After twelve years
at Swansea, in the early 1960s, he became the Fello w and Director of Studies in English at
Cambridge. As Bradford denotes, during his scholarl y carrier Amis was not only giving
lectures, he wrote also reviews, columns, published four collections of poetry, a collection
of lectures on science fiction, five novels and a volume of short stories. 13
At St. John’s he met Philip Larkin, a colleagu e and close friend, who influenced his
work. They shared a sense of satirical humour. Lark in was one of Amis’ early critics. He
has been closely associated with Amis’ first novel Lucky Jim , as he consulted aspects of its
plot and characters.
In 1952 and 1953 Amis contributed two essays Ulster Bull and Emily Coloured to the
journal Essays and Criticism . These contributions established lots of opinions about
literature and criticism, which he followed in his work from 1950s to 1980s.
In 1948 he married Hilary Bardwell, an Oxford student, which gave him a daughter and
two sons. One of them, Martin Amis, became a writer like his father. 14 During these times
he was already considered to be a significant write r and a member of the literary group The
Movement.
His novel debut Lucky Jim, published in 1954 , gained a huge success. Within the first
year of its publication there were 12,000 copies in print, and film rights were sold to
British and also American production companies. It was University of Leicester, where his
friend Larkin worked as a librarian, which inspired him to wrote this novel. This satirical
novel could not be written also without inspiration from Amis’ own life, during which he
worked

13 See Richard Bradford, Kingsley Amis (London: Edward Arnold, 1989), 6.
14 See “Amis, Kingsley,“ Literature Online.
http://lion.chadwyck.co.uk/searchFulltext.do?id=BIO 002556&divLevel=0&trailId=11EEFF59137&area=ref
&forward=critref_ft (accessed May 7, 2009).

as an overtaxed and under-paid lecturer at the Univ ersity College of Swansea. 15 The story
reflects the Education Act of 1944, which enabled a larger number of lower-class people to
receive University education. The success of Lucky Jim is based on explicitness with
which Amis described variety of post-war social rea lity as it was experienced by a
generation of young intellectuals. For this novel A mis got Somerset Maugham Award. It
was times of Lucky Jim ’s greatest fame when Amis was despite of his disap proval labelled
as one of the „Angry Young Men. “
As well as his first novel, other novels of th e 1950s depicted conditions in Britain, and
reflected Amis’ own experiences. In his second nove l That Uncertain Feeling there is
reappeared Jim Dixon, the main character of his pre vious novel. In 1960 was published
novel Take A Girl Like You , which became his favourite one among his novels. He drew
from teaching experience during 1950s when he was g iving lectures on science fiction at
Princeton University. Critics have tended to agree with Amis’ own view, and this novel
has been among the dozen best novels written in Eng lish since 1945 and attached
acknowledgement of the British Book marketing Counc il in 1983. 16
In 1962 he resigned his Cambridge fellowship in order to have more time for writing.
From this year he lived with his new wife, novelist Elizabeth Jane Howard mainly in
London. In his novels of the 1960s Amis turned his satirical attentions to experimentations
with content. These novels reflected more broadly t he nature of human morality. The Anti-
Death League touched the genre of science-fiction, The Green Man contained elements of
mystery. The Alternation dealt with alternate history. He also experimented with imitations
of the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming and in 1968 brought out his own Bond novel
Colonel Sun under the pseudonym “ Robert Markham.”
Amis’ novels of 1970s and early 1980s reflecte d his increasing preoccupation with
ageing and morality, decline of his health, tempera mental disposition and drinking, factors
that led to the breakdown of his marriage. All of t hese is obvious with broadly comic effect
in his novels Girl,20 , Ending Up, Jake´s Thing, Stanley and the Women.
After his separation from Howard he felt unable to live on his own, so he moved into the
London house of his first wife and her third husban d Lord Kilmarnock. Amis undertook to
15 See “Amis, Kingsley.“ Literature Online.
http://lion.chadwyck.co.uk/searchFulltext.do?id=BIO 002556&divLevel=0&trailId=11EEFF59137&area=ref
&forward=critref_ft (accessed May 7, 2009).
16 See “Amis, Kingsley.“ Literature Online.
http://lion.chadwyck.co.uk/searchFulltext.do?id=BIO 002556&divLevel=0&trailId=11EEFF59137&area=ref
&forward=critref_ft (accessed May 7, 2009).

pay the household bills in exchange for security an d companionship, he needed to work
comfortably. This unconventional household lasted f or the rest of Amis’s life.
In 1986 he was awarded Booker Prize for th e novel The Old Devils that is considered
to be his most sentimental work. Another of his 198 0s novels is The Folks that Live on the
Hill , which was inspired by his life with his ex-wife a nd her new husband. 17 By the
beginning of the 1990s fame of Amis’s novel rose by screen adaptations of Stanley and the
Women, The Green Man, Lucky Jim and Take a Girl Lik e You. In London newspapers one
of his poems, selected from the collection The Amis Anthology, was published on a regular
basis . He was also famous as a critic of wines and restau rants, as well as literature, and in
1990 he was made a Knight of the British Empire. In 1991 his Memoirs , collected various
non-fictional autobiographical sketches, was publis hed. Amis died on October 22, 1995 as
a result of contracted pneumonia. 18
In his 50-year career he wrote more that 20 satiric novels. List of his works includes
science-fiction, mystery, essays and criticism, poe try and collections that deal with various
topics from sexual affairs to detectives.

2.4 Lucky Jim
Lucky Jim was published in 1954 and since then it has been r eprinted many times,
filmed and also translated into nine languages. 19 The novel is notable at least for two
reasons. Firstly, Lucky Jim is often considered to be the first campus novel set at a
provincial university. Secondly, with the main prot agonist, Jim Dixon, Amis introduced a
new prototype of character.
Lucky Jim is often considered to be the first campus novel. It is a witty, satirical novel.
The main protagonist, Jim Dixon, is a typical examp le of a young disenchanted
intellectual, who is discontent with the post-war s ociety and the role, this society put him
into. As David Lodge in his introduction to this no vel claims, the novel reflects the mood
of young

17 See “Amis, Kingsley“ Literatura Online, 2009
18 See “Amis, Kingsley“ Literatura Online, 2009
19 Kenneth Allsop, The Angry Decade: A Survey of the Cultural Revolt of t he nineteen-fifties ( London: Peter
Owen Limited, 1964)

people who grew up in the 1950s. 20 In the United States there was Holden Caulfield, wh o
became a symbol for the young people. In Britain it was Amis’ Jim Dixon, who became a
hero of a generation, a figure a many young people identified with. 21
Another most renowned critique written by W. S omerset Maugham, published in The
Sunday Times in 1954, 22 describes these young people of the 1950s in more d etails. In this
critical contribution Maugham exaggerated, demeaned , and preached down Dixon’s
manners, attitudes, and views. These words are hars h and exaggerate Jim’s activities,
although they fit his nature. It may seem that Jim Dixon is Kingsley Amis and Kingsley
Amis represents young intellectuals of the 1950s:

They do not go to university to acquire culture, bu t to get a job, and when they have
got one, scamp it. They have no manners, and are wo efully unable to deal with any
social predicament. Their idea of a celebration is to go a public house and drink six
beers. They are mean, malicious and envious. They w ill write anonymous letters to
harass a fellow undergraduate and listen to a telep hone conversation that is no
business of theirs. Charity, kindliness, generosity are qualities which they hold in
contempt. They are scum. They will in due course le ave the university. Some will
doubtless sink back, perhaps with relief, into the modest class from which they
emerged; some will take to drink, some to crime, an d go to prison. Others will
become schoolmasters and form the young, or journal ist and mould public opinion. A
few will go into Parliament, become Cabinet Ministe rs and rule the country. I look
upon myself as fortunate that I shall not live to s ee it. 23

This attack shows contemporary atmosphere and ideas of a new literary generation.

Jim Dixon is a junior lecturer of medieval history at some provincial university south of
London. He hates his job and isn’t interested in hi s field. On the other hand he takes pains

20 See David Lodge, introduction to Lucky Jim, by Kingsley Amis (London: Penguin Group, 2000), v.
21 See Walter Allen. Tradition and Dream: The English and American Novel f rom the Twenties to our Time
(London: Phoenix House, 1964) 280.
22 See Richard Bradford. Kingsley Amis , 23.
23 Richard Bradford. Kingsley Amis (London: Edward Arnold, 1989), 23.

to keep his job. Lodge denotes, and we should only agree, that university is by no means
Dixons’ popular surroundings. University social and cultural values were never close to
him. He prefers pop music, pubs and non-academic co mpany to Mozart, drawing rooms
and academic company. 24
Once, when he is asked by his colleague, why h e has become a medievalist, Dixon
gives a very simple explanation:

No, the reason why I’m a medievalist, as y ou call it, is that the medieval papers were
a soft option in the Leicester course, so I special ized in them. Then when I applied
for the job here, I naturally made a big point of t hat, because it looked better to seem
interested in something specific. “ 25

Since Dixon starts working at university his life i s followed up with a number of
misunderstandings and blunders. He made a bad first impression when he inflicted a
superficial wound on the Professor of English, two days later at the first faculty meeting he
tripped up Registrar’s chair, and then he degraded the book written under Welch
superintendence. In order not to lose his job, he s tarts to fawn upon his superior Mr.
Welch, who decides whether he keeps his job or not . He says what Welch wants to hear,
for the sake of appearances he see eye to eye with him, supports hi s opinions and even
takes an invitation for a boring weekend of music a nd arts. Bad luck follows Jim further
and gets him into many funny situations, situations that cannot be explained away. After
the party he damaged Mrs. Welch’s bed sheets as he fell asleep while smoking a cigarette.
Instead of confessing he rather tries to hide the d amage. He deceives Bertrand and Mrs.
Welch by dissembling his voice. After the College B all he hijacks Barclays’ taxi. The
novel reaches its climax in Dixon’s lecture on “Mer rie England,” which represents the end
of his university carrier. He comes drunk to the le cture, and accidentally parodies the
voices of Professor Welch and other colleagues. It is no surprise he loses his job the very
next day. In fact this symbolizes a delivery and a beginning of a new life. At the end, as the
title cues, Jim becomes lucky; he gets a well paid job in London as well as a girl of his
heart.
––––––––––––––––– ––––––––––––––––– ––-
–
24 See David Lodge, introduction to Lucky Jim, by Kingsley Amis (London: Penguin Group, 2000), vi.

25 Amis. Lucky Jim , 33.

3 THE PERMISSIVE SIXTIES

The time of post-war austerity was in the sixt ies replaced with period of progress,
affluence and liberalization. New technologies and modern conveniences begun to
influence every aspect of life in Britain from work ing conditions, domestic chores, leisure
time, and the role of women, to nature of education . Despite the unstable economic
situation, the average person’s living standards an d weekly wages rose and people could
enjoy greater freedom and new means of entertainmen t due to many labour-saving devices.
“Most people have never had it so good“ 26, said Conservative Prime Minister, Harold
Macmillian in 1957.
The most important change in post-war Britai n was the gradual breakup and the end of
British Empire, which led to new finding of nationa l and individual identity 27 Marwick
claims, that after the provincialism, which dominat ed in first half of the fifties, there
became an era of openness to attitudes and ideas fr om the United States and the Europe.
Cultural Revolution in the sixties formed many interrelated inputs, different in strength
or in kind, which transformed British ideas and beh aviours. The inputs should be
compiling as an assault on British cosiness, prejud ices, clichés, and narrow-mindedness of
society. These influences brought openings towards USA and Europe, populism, youth,
and the working class. The sixties belonged to yout h. The origin of this is probably
because they created new technological high-wage so ciety. The youth were associated with
sexual revolution, expressed their defiance against authorities by having pre-marital sex,
wearing miniskirts and hot pants, experimenting wit h drugs, such as cannabis or LSD, and
listening to The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
The feature typical of the sixties was liberal ization of life. The first important sign of
relaxation of old-fashioned morals is indicated by the controversial novel Lady
Chatterleys’ Lover by D.H. Lawrence, published in 1960. The Penguin B ooks was accused
of spreading obscenity and promiscuity, but as a re sult of this, the sexual themes, which
were considered to be taboos in the past, became pu blicly discussed. Then the various
important acts passed by Parliament confirmed more freedom in sexual matters. 28
26 Artur Marwick. British Society Since 1945 (London: Penquin Books, 1990), 111.
27 See Hilský, Sou časný Britský román , 13. (My translation)
28 See Arthur Marwick. British Society Since 1945 (London: Penquin Books, 1990) 148-9.

These acts were partially due to active feminists, whose movement was in later sixties still
only in its beginnings. 29
One of the aspects of liberalization was the g reat development in the sphere of higher
education. Secondary and grammar schools were repla ced by comprehensive teaching.
Many universities were upgraded, and totally new un iversities were established. British
universities became comparable with American ones.

3.1 Malcolm Bradbury
Malcolm Bradbury, the English novelist, critic , and television scriptwriter was born on
7 September 1932 in Sheffield. Just as Amis he come s from lower-middle-class
background and grew up in suburban London, his fath er was a railway clerk. He started
with writing early; even before he went to universi ty he wrote stories for the local
Nottinghamshire Guardian and comedy sketches for th e BBC. In the same way as Amis he
studied English at the University College, Leiceste r, and then he got his Master’s degree at
the University of London.
Still as an undergraduate he began to write hi s first novel Eating People Is Wrong,
which was completed in 1959. That year he also marr ied Elizabeth Salt and got his first
university teaching post at Hull, where he at the E nglish Department, met with a fellow
lecturer and writer, David Lodge, who became his li felong friend. These two academics
are often compared, since Bradbury as well as Lodge was a professor of English and
American studies, both wrote critics, and occupied notable posts in literary and academic
world. In 1965 he moved to the University of East A nglia in Norwich. According to
successful American model, he established there the first creative-writing course at a
university in Britain. He left his post of a profes sor as he retired in 1998. 30
Bradbury spent almost 50 years in academic sur roundings, therefore all of his novels
are set in environment, he is familiar with, but he has argued about the view that they are
campus novels: „but they are not, I believe campus novels, rather novels about self-aware
intellectuals capable of irony and doubt, concerned with the issues of change and

29 See Andrew Sanders. The Short Oxford History of English Literature , 621.
30 See Doering Jonathan, “Malcolm Bradbury: A history man for our times“ Contemporary Review [London]
Mar 2001: 159-163.

liberation, the problems of humanism, and so might well have been in other settings” 31
The main topic in Bradbury’s novels is humane liber al values, since he deals with changes
of liberal attitudes of British society in second h alf of Twentieth Century. As Bradbury
admitted, the core of his novels is liberal crisis. 32
Analogous to the first novel, Bradbury’s secon d novel Stepping Westward was also
comic liberal realism drawing inspiration from his study of Creative Writing on a Fulbright
scholarship at the University of Indiana. A sorrowf ul book, though still a comedy and
campus novel is The History man, which won the Royal Society of Literature Heinemann
Prize. 33 Also his next work, Rates of Exchange, was very successful, and Bradbury was
awarded Booker Prize. In the collection of short st ories Who Do You Think You Are? he
applied his talent to parody all sorts of styles of contemporary Anglo-American authors.
As an academic he published a range of works i ncluding: The Modern American Novel
and From Puritanism to Postmodernism: A History of Amer ican Literature, both dealing
with American Literature from a British perspective . The Modern Novel and Atlas of
Literature, demonstrate interactions between literatures in Bri tain. He wrote studies on
Foster and Waught, 34 who both influenced his works.
From the mid-Seventies Bradbury was giving lec tures, visiting conferences, writing
criticism, novels, and TV adaptations. He also was a visiting academic at regular
conferences in universities across the world.
As TV scriptwriter, he adapted a number of ot hers writers’ and his own works. Among
others can be mention Amis’ The Green Man and his own The History Man . He produced
popular episodes of Inspector Morse, Kavanagh QC , and political satires The Gravy Train
and The Gravy Train Goes East.
Bradbury was awarded a knighthood in the year 2000. 35 Despite his congenital heart
defect he lived for 68 years. Malcolm Bradbury died 27 November 2000 in Norwich.

31 “Bradbury, Malcolm, 1932-“ Literature Online.
http://lion.chadwyck.co.uk/searchFulltext.do?id=BIO 002592&divLevel=0&trailId=11F008286BE&area=ref
&forward=critref_ft (accessed May 7, 2009).
32 See Hilský, Sou časný Britský román , 105. (My translation)
33 See “Bradbury, Malcolm, 1932-“ Literature Online.
http://lion.chadwyck.co.uk/searchFulltext.do?id=BIO 002592&divLevel=0&trailId=11F008286BE&area=ref
&forward=critref_ft (accessed May 7, 2009).
34 See Hilský, Sou časný Britský román , 105. (My translation)
35 See Doering Jonathan, “Malcolm Bradbury: A histo ry man for our times“ Contemporary Review
[London] Mar 2001: 159-163.

3.2 Eating People Is Wrong
Bradbury started to write his first novel at the be ginning of the fifties, when he studied at
the Leicester University. The novel was firstly pub lished in 1959, five years after Amis’s
Lucky Jim. Eating People is Wrong is unique among others university novels, for bein g
written by a student from a staff perspective. 36
The main character of the novel, forty years old St uart Treece, is Bradbury, the way he
imagined himself to be in the future. Bradbury call ed this novel a tragicomedy or dismal
comedy. The title of the book is taken from the son g of Michael Flanders and Donald
Swann.
The novel Eating People is Wrong takes friction and contradictions in lives of a few
characters, who are trying to keep liberal values a nd are trying to live according these
values. 37 The main theme is Treece’s liberalism, his faithful ness, altruism, his advocating
of obnoxious student Louis Bates. Treece even doubt s about his social role of a university
teacher:
Of all the problems that nibbled at Treece’s mind a nd brought him to anxiety, there
were none sharper than his worries over status. The catechism began simply: what in
this day and age, was the status of professor in En glish society, and what rewards and
what esteem may expect? Secondly, and to add anothe r dimension, what was the
status of a professor in the humanities , in England, in this day and age? Third, what,
then, was the status of a professor in the humaniti es at a small university in the
provinces , in England, in the present age? 38

Hilský states, that Treece is a liberal intellectua l, whose creed is “critical accepting” rather
than “radical refusing.” It is this attitude that m akes him vulnerable and brings him to
dejected state of mind at the end of the story. 39
Stuart Treece is not very successful in everyd ay life, he clumsily rides a motorcycle,
and also clumsily professes love to his colleague. On the other hand he is well educated,
intelligent and swift, however his fair-mindedness and his best intentions in fact often

36 Patricia Shaw, “The Role of the University in Modern English Fiction “ Journal of the Spanish
Association
of Anglo-American Studies [Oviedo] 2005: 58-66.
37 See Hilský, Sou časný Britský román , 105-6. (My translation)
38 Malcolm Bradbury. Eating People is Wrong (Picador, 2000), 40-1.
39 See Hilský, Sou časný Britský román , 105. (My translation)

mismanage people and blunders the situation
Bradbury’s novel involves number of burlesque characters, both students and teachers.
Among other students there stands out distinctively Louise Bates, who is at first glance
extraordinary and freaky. He is already 26 years ol d, also well educated and hard working.
He describes his interests like sophisticated and k ookie. In fact, in his private life, he is
more unsuccessful than Treece. He ostentatiously em phasizes his working-class origin and
uses this to blackmail emotionally his female teach ers. As Hilský wrote, he is
hypochondriac and exorbitantly selfish; he conventi onalizes herself into the pose of Blakes
rebel. Bates in principle does not read Elliot, but on the other hand he loves Nietzche. In
his opinion the women must compile with man, unders tand, and identify with his
attitudes. 40
The other burlesque character is a Nigerian st udent Eberebelosa, who has been sent to
the British university by a terroristic group. He h as four wives at home, but he would like
to bring a fifth one from England. He has an inferi ority complex, because any British lady
is willing to share a bed with him. Another fact th at afflicts him is, that other African
students wouldn’t bring him presents even thought h e is a son of an African chief. In
consequence of these worries, Eberebelosa hides wis tfully in lavatories for all days. 41
The emphasis in the novel is less on the compl exity of the plot and more on liberalism
of personal relationships. Eating People is Wrong brings new aspect to the genre. This new
aspect involves realistic scenes from life at red-b rick University that put the finishing
touches to humorous episodes. Bradbury’s describes number of day-to-day activities,
which are closely related with life at a provincial university. His depictions of various staff
meetings, visiting lectures, tea parties and cross- cultural misunderstandings are described
convincingly and with recognizable details.

40 See Hilský. Sou časný Britský Román, 106. (My translation)
41 See Bradbury. Eating People is Wrong , 19-22.

4 THE UNGOVERNABLE SEVENTIES

In contrast to the prosperous sixties, the sev enties were a period of economic downturn,
violence, race tension, terrorism, and social polic y changes. On the other hand the
seventies are characterized by a greater tolerance and breaking down of old stereotypes in
social relationships.
In the new age of automatization and computeri zation it was not easy to find a new job.
Workers were poorly educated, unskilled, and have a lack of finances to travel far.
Together with the unemployment rose the discontent and scepticism. In the seventies, the
high unemployment rate and everyday war at the work place more easily than ever before
led into eruption of extensive strikes. 42
Britain’s poor economic situation was commonly attributed to class-ridden society. In
the sixties, it was popular to denote society as cl assless, but in fact British class system was
constantly rigid, and this was also true in the sev enties. Race was far more significant and
dangerous factor of social inequality than the clas s, in the turbulent seventies. The
newcomers from the Commonwealth such as West Indian , Pakistani, Indian, and
Mauritany, became victims of racial discrimination. They were forced to accept jobs that
were considered scornful by whites. The main proble ms were horrible housing conditions,
high unemployment of young people, criminality, and police harassment. 43
The year 1974 became a synonym for bloodshed, a s violent industrial events and
terrorism perpetrated Britain. Many people were kil led and badly injured during IRA
bombing attacks, and extreme violence was associate d with the mining strikes. Extensive
strikes emerged in January 1979, when there was the highest number of workers in the last
fifty years out on strike. 44
Of all the main changes in social policy, educ ation spawned most controversy. After
1974 the Labour Government united both public-secto r grammar schools and independent
schools into a universal, comprehensive system. Man y debates arose over the fact whether
the absorption of grammar schools into comprehensiv e schools meant a lowering of
educational standards or not. In fact, the comprehe nsive system did not help to dispose of

42 See Marwick. British Society Since 1945 , 184.
43 See Marwick. British Society Since 1945 , 201-206.
44 See Marwick. British Society Since 1945 , 222.

inequalities. At the end of the decade a more serio us educational problem arose, which was
a high level of unemployment among the academically qualified people. Later in 1979,
Thatcher’s Government public spending cuts affected schooling in general. 45
The seventies are called “ungovernable” because of violence, terrorism and race
discrimination. This decade might be called “ungove rnable” also as a result of greater
tolerance, changing relationship between sexes, and breaking-down of old stereotypes in
the society.

4.1 David Lodge
David Lodge is one of the most prolific contem porary British authors in the campus
genre. He is not only brilliant humorist, but also a professor of literature, literary theorist
and one of the foremost literary critics. Over and above he writes plays and screenplays.
His novels are constantly published in hardback, re viewed in literary magazines, and
discussed in university courses. 46 Moreover he has been awarded several literary priz es for
his novels: Hawthorden Prize for Changing Places, Y orkshire Post Book Award for finest
fiction and Booker Prize for Fiction for Nice Work; this one also became Sunday Express
Book of the Year in 1989. 47 Lodge thinks that his fiction works are popular be cause:
„academic conflicts are relatively harmless, safely insulated from the real world and its
sombre concerns“ 48
He also published scholar works and criticism. These works often overlap and we
should not distinguish where the criticism ends and the fiction starts. In his novels Lodge
often exploits his deep knowledge of literature his tory, theory, parody, literary references
and metaphysical elements. 49
David Lodge was born January 28, 1935 in Londo n into a traditional Catholic family.
He graduated and became a Honorary Fellow at Univer sity College London. In 1959 he
married Marie Frances Jacob. He taught English lite rature at the University of Birmingham

45 See Marwick, British Society Since 1945 , 236.
46 See Lambertsson, Campus Clowns and the Canon: David Lodge´s Campus Fi ction, 9.
47 See “David Lodge,“ Contemporary Writers.
http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p= auth62 (accessed May 7, 2009).
48 Lambertsson, Campus Clowns and the Canon: David Lodge´s Campus Fi ction, 36.
49 See Lambertsson, Campus Clowns and the Canon: David Lodge´s Campus Fi ction, 37.

and surrounds into academic world he drew inspirati on for his fiction from environment,
which is familiar to him. Between the years 1960 an d 1987 he worked at a university, and
consequently decided to retire in order to have mor e time for writing. For his efforts he
obtained the title of Honorary Professor of Modern English.
From 1964 to 1965 Lodge was a Harkness Fellow in the United States and in 1969
Visiting Professor at the University of California, Berkeley. These abroad experiences
served as one of the sources of inspiration for his novels. As he admits “Each of my novels
corresponds to a particular phase or aspect of my o wn life… but this does not mean they
are autobiographical in any simple, straightforward sense.” 50
As the beginning writer he was influenced by ” English Catholic“ novels and the 1950’s
genre of ”campus novel.” His campus novels are ofte n compared to Lucky Jim, which
inspiration is obvious in the Rummidge series. In c omparison to Amis’ provincial campus
novels published in fifties, Lodge’s novels are cos mopolitan, comparing British and
American university system and culture. He is also associated with Malcolm Bradbury
„my closest writer friend“as Lodge says, with whom he works in the English department at
the Birmingham University. 51
Lodge’s first novel The Picturegoers was writte n during his service in army and like
most of his novels, it deals with Catholicism. One of his novels that is to the largest extent
influenced by Catholicism is How Far Can You Go? Lo dge’s best known novels Changing
Places, Small World and Nice Work, which are set in university surrounding, are often
considered to be a trilogy. These novels are interc onnected with ”an imaginary city, with
imaginary universities and imaginary factories… whi ch occupies, for the purposes of
fiction, the space where Birmingham is to be found on maps,“ Lodge describes Rummidge
52
As a critic, he was initially influenced by “N ew Criticism,” later he dislocated to
Modernist authors and postmodernist critical moveme nts. His scholar interest in the
structure of fiction is reflected in his novels. Bo th in his fiction and critical works Lodge

50 “David Lodge,“ Contemporary Writers.
http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth6 2 (accessed May 7, 2009).
51 See ”David Lodge,” The Guardian.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/jun/13/david.l odge (accessed May 7, 2009).
52 See “David Lodge,“ Contemporary Writers.
http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth6 2 (accessed May 7, 2009).

takes up ”binary structures,” which are easy to rec ognize in Changing Places .
David Lodge became a successful screenwriter a s he adapted both Small World and
Nice Work for a television series. Moreover the Nice Work was awarded the Royal
Television Society Award and his screenplay won a S ilver Nymph at the International
Television Festival in Monte Carlo in 1990. Beyond he presented own work, he also
adapted Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens.
Lodge is also author of two plays. His theatre debut The Writing Game was performed
in 1990 and the second play titled Home Truths , produced in 1998, was by him later
rewritten and turned into a novella.
Besides that Lodge produced nine critical analy ses on English and American novel,
reviews, analysis and twelve novels. His latest nov el The Deaf Sentence , published in
2008, is also inspired by his own experience with d eafness. The author lives in
Birmingham. 53

4.2 Changing Places
Changing Places, Small World and Nice Work are considered to be a trilogy. All the
three novels are partly or entirely set at imaginar y the University in English Rummidge.
Due to the fact that Lodge knew the academic enviro nment very well, also these works
came out of his personal experience. The inspiratio n for writing Changing Places was his
position of a Visiting Professor at the University of California, Berkley.
His works, foremost Changing Places and Small World are often compared with Lucky
Jim. Lodge in Campus Clowns and the Canon admits inspira tion from Amis’ work: “I
constantly experience a strange community of feelin g with Amis, and find my tastes and
career eerily echoing his.” 54 He explains his nonnegative attitude to be compare d with
Amis.
The narrator describes Changing Places as “duplex chronicle”. It is based upon

53 See “David Lodge,“ Contemporary Writers.
http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth6 2 (accessed May 7, 2009
54 Eva Bjork Lambertsson, Campus Clowns and the Canon: David Lodge´s Campus Fi ction , 36.

doubleness and binary oppositions. The novel tells the story of the exchange between two
imaginary universities and describes differences be tween American and English attitudes
and lifestyles, as seen by two contrasting characte rs.
American city Euphoria is a small but populous state on Western sunny seaboard of
America, because of its beauties of nature it is co nsidered by many cosmopolitan experts to
be one of the most pleasant environments in the wor ld. The Euphoria University is one of
the most prestigious and best situated universities in United States. English Rummidge, by
contrast is graceless cold industrial city lying at a traffic intersection. The Rummidge two
University is an insignificant red brick complex. T he only thing that joins these
universities, so different in character and so wide ly separated in space is the same
dominating feature, which decorates both of them – duplicate of Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Lodge describes both universities in a rather humor ous way. British universities are
according to him too traditional but on the other h and the American universities with many
students disruptions are modern too much.
The main protagonists of the novel are two prof essors of literature, who exchange their
jobs for six months. The English participant, Phili p Swallow, moves from the small
provincial university in Rummidge and stands for a well ranking academic, Morris Zapp,
at the university Plotinus, in the state of Euphori a. The American professor Morris Zapp
had published articles in PMLA as early as he was a t graduate school and achieved the
rank of a full professor before his thirties. He is a highly respected scholar with a long and
impressive list of publications. Zapp, who has alwa ys claimed that: “he had made himself
an authority on the literature of England not in sp ite of but because of never having set
foot in the country,” 55 flied to Europe only in order to put behind divorc e with his wife.
His English counterpart Philip Swallow is unsophist icated, doubtful and susceptible. He is
a man with genuine love of literature in all its di verse forms, without any specific field of
interest. He had published nothing except a handful of essays and reviews. In fact Gordon
Masters sent Swallow to Euphoria Exchange because h e wanted to balk him and promote a
younger member of the Department and to avoid uneas iness when Swallow was abroad.
David Lodge is also a literary theoretician an d in his campus novels there occur many
references and allusions to other works. Lodge hims elf is interested in Jane Austen and her
work, and the same is true for both the main charac ters in Changing Places. Morris Zapp

55 Lodge, Changing Places , 30.

had published four devilishly clever books on Jane Austen by the time he was thirty. He
had embarked with great enthusiasm on an ambitious critical project; he had resolved to
write an absolute analysis of Jane Austen’s work. H e would like to write commentaries on
all her works, which would say absolutely everythin g that could possibly be said about
them. Philip Swallow wrote his MA thesis on the juv enilia of Jane Austen; in fact it was
the last major project he has ever finished.
The book draws the attention to its form. It i s divided into six parts: Flying, Settling,
Corresponding, Reading, Changing and Ending. The ch apter Corresponding demonstrates
an epistolary novel, but surely nobody’s done that since the eighteen century,” 56 wrote
Hilary in one of the letters to her husband Philip when she browses through Let’s Write a
Novel. The whole chapter is presented in a form of letters from both teachers and theirs
wives, in which we learn more about them. Following chapter Reading is composited from
various newspaper articles, advertisements, manifes tos and handouts about life at both
universities. Final chapter Ending is written as a film script: “PHILIP shrugs. The camera
stops, freezing him in mid-gesture.” 57 The novel ends with open-ended solution, without
resolution what will happen to Morris, Philip, and their wives.
Within the story there is set a literary parlo ur game that Lodge invented himself. The
game is called “Humilitation”. Its meaning is that each player says a title of a well-known
book he hadn’t read, and the more other player had read it, the more point he scored. 58

56 Lodge, Changing Places , 146.
57 Lodge, Changing Places , 234
58 See ”David Lodge,” The Guardian.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/jun/13/david.l odge (accessed May 7, 2009).

5 COMPARATIVE STUDY

Since Amis published Lucky Jim , the genre of campus novel has greatly expanded an d
become a popular Anglo-American literary genre. The novels arise from a specialized
community and are intended to specialized group of readers. Today’s definition of the
genre describes “campus novel” as satirical comedy with strong burlesque elements. The
plot of most campus novels takes place in provincia l town at a provincial university and
the main protagonist is a teacher of humanities. 59 All the chosen novels meet all of these
conditions to be a campus novel and accordingly it is expected that they include a number
of funny elements. In this last part of my thesis I ’m going to focus on comedy and compare
Lucky Jim , Eating People Is Wrong with Changing Places from this point of view.

5.1 Lucky Jim
Lucky Jim is a classic comic novel, which make s fun from the British lifestyle.
However, the novel is not a series of funny event a s some readers could expect, since
beside comic episodes, there occur many serious and important passages. Amis shows
himself as a brilliant imitator and joker, when he allocates to Jim many faults, which bring
him a number of misunderstandings and blunders: he drinks, play practical jokes, and
mimics people. His love for beer creates memorable comic episodes – for instance an
incident with Welch’s bed sheeting and his conseque nt efforts to hide the damage. The
most playful scene, the public lecture on Merrie En gland, which becomes also Jim’s mimic
masterpiece, is also caused by alcohol consumption.
Subtle humour of Lucky Jim is also achieved through Jim’s interior monologues and his
sardonic, private commentaries full of hatred, vari ous grimaces and mocking people, who
he dislikes. It is his way of rebellion against bou rgeois values and institutions. His attitude
to this institution and his utter lack of interest become evident in his approach to the
lessons and works he is supposed to do. There is a crucial inner self image relating to his
only scholarly article:

59 See Hilský, Sou časný Britský román ,104. (My translation)

“In considering this strangely neglected topic” it began. This what neglected topic?
This strangely what topic? This strangely neglected what? His thinking all this all
this without having defiled and set fire to the typ escript only made him appear to
himself as more of a hypocrite and fool. “Let’s see ” he echoed Welch in a pretended
effort of memory: “oh, yes, The Economic Influence of the Developments in
Shipbuilding Techniques, 1950 to 1985 .” 60

This quotation about Dixon’s useless article i s also a good example of Amis’ comedy of
style that provokes laughter on its own. He used pe riodically multiple clauses to increase
the comicality of the situation.

In his mind, Jim creates various scenarios and inn er speeches, which contrast with his
current behaviour. His desire to take a violent act ion against those who he dislikes remains
without any outer reaction:

He pretended to himself that he’d pick up his profe ssor round the waist, squeeze the
furry grey-blue waistcoat against him to expel the breath, run heavily with him up the
steps, along the corridor to the Staff Cloak-room, and plunge the too-small feet in
their capless shoes into a lavatory basin, pulling the plug once, twice, and again,
stuffing the mouth with toilet-paper. Thinking of t his, he only smiled dreamily… 61

This example of childish fantasy eloquently e xpresses Dixon’s inhospitable
relationship with his superintendence Professor Wel ch.

The novel reaches its humorous climax at Dixon’s le cture on “Merrie England,” Dixon
comes drunk to the lecture, and finds himself accid entally parodying Professor Welch. He
uses a number of Welch’s favourite tags, mocking hi s voice and manners. Afterwards, he
parodies the Principal and concludes his performanc e with a hilarious burlesque:

Within quite a short time he was contrivin g to sound like an unusually fanatical
Nazi trooper in charge of book-burning rea ding out to the crowd excerpts from a
pamphlet written by a pacifist, Jewish, li terate Communist. A growing mutter, half-
amused, half-indicant, arose about him, bu t he closed his ears to it and read on.
Almost unconsciously he began to adopt an unnameable foreign accent and to read
faster and faster, his head spinning. As i f in a dream he heard Welch stirring, then
whispering, then talking at his side. He b egan punctuating his discourse with

60 Amis, Lucky Jim, 14.
61 Amis, Lucky Jim, 9.

smothered snorts of derision. He read on, spitting out the syllables like curses, leaving
mispronunciations, omissions, spoonerism uncorrecte d, turning over the pages of his
script like a score-reader following a presto movement, raising his voice higher and higher.
At last he found his final paragraph confronting hi m, stopped, and looked at his audience.
62
5.2 Eating People is Wrong
Amis focused himself on parody of hypocrisy, v anity, pomposity and pretension in
Welch’s bourgeois family. Moreover, he creates a fa rce from academic profession.
Contrary to him, Bradbury deals with life at a prov incial university more realistically. He
had never achieved such satirical humour and stylis tic mastery as Kingsley Amis in Lucky
Jim . However, it was not his intention to write novel of Lucky Jim type.
Bradbury’s campus novels could be viewed as es says on liberal attitudes and their
transformation within British society in the second half of the twentieth century, 63 rather
than good-natured parodies.
The novel Eating People is Wrong takes friction and contradictions in lives of a few
characters that try to keep liberal values and to l ive according these values. 64 The main
protagonist, Stuart Treece, as well as Jim Dixon, f inds himself sometimes in an awkward
situation. In the case of Dixon, it is his fault th at brings him many misunderstandings, and
to Treece helps his altruism. In this novel he uses satire to portray university socializing
activities and the staff-student relationships with humor. 65 He creates burlesque love
episodes and situational comedy, using slapsticks r emotely evoking grotesques. 66 In order
to provoke such funny situations and various cross- cultural misunderstandings, he
produces a number of satirical portraits and sets t he story into multinational surroundings.
There is a extract from the reception for foreign s tudents:

… a that moment a sudden commotion occurred in a fa r corner of the room; a Negro
student, in an excess of nerves, had spilled a cup of tea over a reader in economics.
“My word! Eborebelosa!” Treece said; and he hurried off.

62 Amis, Lucky Jim, 226 .
63 See Hilský, Sou časný Britský Román, 105. (My translation)
64 See Hilský, Sou časný Britský Román, 105. (My translation)
65 See Patricia Shaw, “The Role of the University in Mo dern English Fiction “ Journal of the Spanish
Association of Anglo-American Studies [Oviedo] 2005: 58-66.
66 See Hilský, Sou časný Britský roman, 106. (My translation)

“I must go and talk to somebody else,“ said Emma, and went over to a group of
Indian students gathered in a Conner. As soon as sh e announced her name, a sharp
silence fell over the group. Their former animation turned to a comatose
contemplation of each other’s shoes. “You are a tal l woman,“ said someone politely.
Silence again.
`“Midwinter spring is its own season“` said one of them, a nun, suddenly. “You
know this quotation, of course, and how pertinent a re these words, for now as you
see, the sun is shining,“ She pointed to the window .
“ It is of T.S. Elliot,” said a voice at Emma’s sid e; it was the German, who had
followed her over. ´“Lean, lean on garden urn…“ You know this too?”
Suddenly all the Indians began quoting Eliot. “ A h ard coming we had of it,” cried
one. “ There were no tigers,” intoned another contr apuntally. 67

Amis reflected his sense of humour in masterfully c reated interior monologues, similarly
Bradbury uses his parody in various dialogues. This extract comes from a little tea for the
first-year honours people organized by Stuart Treec e:

“This one of the occasions when one could do with b eing married” said Treece with a
bright smile to one of the girls, the enthusiastic Miss Winterbottom. “Can I help?”
asked Miss Winterbottom. The man with the beard bur st into fresh laughter. “I mean,
like getting something from the kitchen”, went on M iss Winterbottom, blushing to
full shade of red. “Next time you must let me lend you my wife” said Carfax
amiably. All were amused, on the politest level. “L ike the Eskimos do,” muttered the
man with the beard, “What’s that?” asked Treece ple asantly; there were no secrets
here. A girl glasses with immense, brightly coloure d rims kicked the man’s ankle to
indicate that this remark lacked taste. This spurre d him to further efforts and he
embarked on premeditated routine.
68

5.3 Changing Places
David Lodge’s novels, full of parody, are connected with his critical interest in
literature.
He can other authors’ style not only analyse but al so masterly imitate. In his campus
novels the imitation became a popular instrument fo r mocking. His parody is not limited
by funny imitation of others’ styles; parody becam e the fundamental principle of his
novels. 69
67 Bradbury, Eating People is Wrong , 27.
68 Bradbury, Eating People is Wrong, 67-8.
69 See Hilský, Sou časný Britský Román , 118. (My translation)

The blurb of the book from 1976 contains some of re views on Changing Places . The novel
is described as “Vastly entertaining,” “A magnifice nt comic novel,” ”Hugely funny” and
so
imitation of others’ styles; parody became the fun damental principle of his novels. 69
The blurb of the book from 1976 contains some of re views on Changing Places . The novel
is described as “Vastly entertaining,” “A magnifice nt comic novel,” ”Hugely funny” and
so on. The criticism by Malcolm Bradbury assumed fr om New Review says: “A very
buoyant, funny comedy.” Lodge himself explains the success of his book saying: “there is
something inherently funny about people committed t o excellence and standards making
fools of themselves.” 70
Changing Places is based on burlesque comparison of two cultures a nd two
representatives of these cultures. He uses exaggera tion, foolish confidence and absurd
juxtapositions of both characters and Universities. He distributes satirical assessments
equally, without reserves neither British universit y nor American Euphoria. The stories of
both protagonists take place at the time of hippie movement and students strikes on turn of
the sixties and the seventies. Very conventional pr ofessor Swallow gets familiar step by
step with miniskirts, sexual orgies and students de monstrations, whereas swaggering
Morris fights with paper bulletin boards and centra l heating. Traditional exchange between
universities results in exchange of wives. He distr ibutes satirical assessments equally for
British university and American Euphoria. Rummidge is according to him too traditional
but on the other hand Euphoria University with many students’ disruptions is too much
modern.
Moreover, the traditional exchange between the universities finally results in exchange
of wives. It is a promising plot and a satirical ex ploitation of the contrasting characteristics
of the campuses on other continents.
In the first chapter author describes highly f unny episode contrasting American and
British abortion law. Zapp favorably buys the plane ticket to Europe from one of his
students. During a boring flight he with dismay dis covered that he was the only male-
passenger in the plane. He became a part of package tours operating from United States,
where abortions are illegal, to Britain, where the new law is permissive:

…Morris Zapp has just discovered what it is t hat’s bugging him about his flight. The
realization is a delayed consequence of walki ng the length of the aircraft to the toilet,

70 Lambertsson, Campus Clowns and the Canon: David Lodge´s Campus Fi ction, 37.
and strikes him, like a slow-burn gag in a movie-co medy, just as he is concluding his
business there. On his way back he verifies his sus picion, covertly scrutinizing every
row of seats until he reaches his own at the front of the aircraft. He sinks down
heavily and, as is his wont when thinking hard, cro sses his legs and plays a complex
percussion solo with his fingernails on the sole of his right shoe. Every passenger on
the plane except himself is a woman. 71

In contrast to Amis, who focused his interest on ch osen academic characters, Lodge
mocked the University as institution. In one of man y pictures of Rummidge University, he
attributes to traditional notice board an archaic f orm:

The noticeboard distantly reminded Morris of the ea rly work of Robert
Rauschenberg: a thumbtacked montage of variegated s craps of paper – letterheaded
notepaper memo sheets, compliment slips, pages thor n clumsily from college
notebooks, inverted envelopes, reversed invoices, e ven fragments of wrapping paper
with tails of scotch tape still adhering to them – all bearing cryptic messages from
faculty to students about courses, rendezvous, assi gnments and books, scribbled in a
variety of scarcely decipherable hands with pencil, ink and coloured ball-point. The
end of Gutenberg era was evidently not an issue her e: they were still living in a
manuscript culture. Morris felt he understood more deeply, now, what McLuhan was
getting at: it had tactile appeal, this noticeboard – you wanted to reach out and touch
its rough, irregular surface. As a system for conve ying information it was the funnies
thing he’d seen in years. 72

Morris Zapp, the American participant of the e xchange, is chuckling when he visits the
Rumminge English Department for the first time
Lodge satirically criticizes and makes fun fr om things that he knows from his own
experience; all the more his novels are valuable. A ccording to Lodge, academic problems
are, compared to real world, relatively harmless an d that is the reason why the campus
novels and university world attract a large number of readers, both students or academics
and people from outside.

71 Lodge, Changing Places , 22
70 Lodge, Changing Places , 51.

.

CONCLUSION

As described in the introduction the principal goal of this thesis was to demonstrate and
compare humour in Lucky Jim , Eating People is Wrong , and Changing Places . All authors
of these novels were academics at British universit ies, therefore they provide satirical
picture of British higher education based on their own experience. They create comic
characters and put them into funny situations. Amis together with Bradbury and Lodge
contributed to the public perception of higher educ ation. Their works have been translated
into many languages; and amuse people from various countries and backgrounds. On the
one hand they bring university atmosphere to those who have no experience with higher
education; on the other hand they also try to show people, who are familiar with
universities, the problems of higher education from other perspective.
The novels were written in the 1950s, 1960s, a nd 1970s, therefore this thesis deals with
three decades of British history. Primarily I focus ed on aspects and factors related to the
topic. Beyond social and economical aspects I menti oned also important laws that changed
process of education. In biographical parts I avoid ed to describe writers’ personal lives and
listings of all their works. Instead I focused on a cademic experience of all authors and
some of theirs most knows novels and scholarly work s. In the comparative study I
addressed particular comic situations and features of characters rather than humorous
techniques and elements.
Kingsley Amis, Malcolm Bradbury and David Lodg e touched the problems that many
people of theirs generation faced, and presented th em in a comic way, which was the
reason why their novels became greatly successful a nd found their place in bookcases of
many readers.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Bradbury, Malcolm. Eating People is Wrong. London : Picador, 2000.
Lodge, David. Changing Places . Great Britain: Trowbridge & Esher, 1976.

Secondary resources:

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to our Time. London: Phoenix House, 1964.
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