by Pa Rock
Reader
Novelist and poet Kingsley Amis was born to a working class family in London in 1922, but by the time of his death seventy-three years later he was a highly esteemed British man of letters who had been knighted by the Queen. Amis described himself as being a graduate of World War II and Oxford University. Being from a working class background - and lacking the advantages of having a family of means - he was able to attend the prestigious Oxford primarily through hs own academic achievements and abilities, and his modest family background undoubtedly placed limitations on his social movements through the university.
One of Amis's few close friends at Oxford was a fellow student named Philip Larkin, Larkin also eventually became a successful novelist and poet.
Kingsley Amis began his first novel, "Lucky Jim," in 1951 when he was only twenty-eight-years-old. He dedicated the book to Philip Larkin, and Larkin played an active role in editing the book. Over the years some readers and critics have felt that "Lucky Jim" was autobiographical in nature and that Amis was essentially describing his own life in the exploits of the book's central character, Jim Dixon. Both the author and the character were lecturers at out-of-the-way provincial universities, and both felt that life was on the verge of passing them by, and that they would forever be stuck in their mundane circumstances.
Others thought that the character of Jim Dixon was more of an intentional description of Philip Larkin than it was of Amis. In the bright light of hindsight, Dixon may have been a representation of both Amis and Larkin at that particularly formative stage of their lives.
"Lucky Jim," which was finally published in 1954, is today regarded as a comedic classic of British literature.
Jim Dixon, a.k.a. "Lucky Jim," was a lecturer of Midevil history at an out-of -the-way provincial college during the year or so that the novel encompasses. His position was tenuous. He was either at the first step of a long climb into the upper levels of academia, or he was, as he somewhat suspected, already at his educational pinnacle and preparing for a grand slide downward into public school teaching. Throughout his year of minor adventures, Jim seemed to sense that his career as a university lecturer would be short-lived, and at times he appeared to be actively sabotaging the future that he wanted so desperately to attain.
Jim had a small circle of friends at the university, some of whom seemed to be fostering his success and others who came across as working against him. He had a love interest of sorts, a neurotic professor named Margaret, who tried to control Jim's life - and the lives of others near her - through acts of high drama, such as a very sketchy attempted suicide. Jim also played up to his supervising professor, Dr. Welch, and ingratiated himself to the elder professor by attending social events with him and his family and even spending occasional weekends in their country home.
Jim enjoyed drinking, a habit which led to some embarrassing situations, and he also liked to smoke. At one point while visiting in Professor Welch's home, he had the predictable misfortune to fall asleep in his bedroom while intoxicated - and smoking - and woke up to find that he had burned a large hole in the bed clothes. Instead of owning up to his reckless behavior, Jim decided to cut the charred edges away from the holes in the sheets and blankets, and then to remake the bed so that the damaged bedding would be harder to notice. His cigarette had also burned across a bedside table, and he managed to hide that table in a storeroom that he discovered in the house.
The smoking-in-bed story, and the tale of a lecture given while intoxicated, and a lengthy description of an elder professor driving a car while not minding other traffic, served as the comedic fodder for this novel. Yes, there were several places where I found myself laughing out loud, but for the most part the story was more generally amusing than it was ribald.
"Lucky Jim" is a comedy of manners, a genteel period piece that reflects the times as they were in the lower branches of academia during the years just following World War II. The Jim Dixon whose life is revealed in the book's pages is undoubtedly representative of Kingsley Amis, Philip Larkin, and all of the other "angry young men" who were trying to both push and pull British literature - and British thought - into the light of the 20th century.
"Lucky Jim" is an important novel for its clever reflection of academic life in post-World War II Britain - but one reading will certainly suffice.
Reader
Novelist and poet Kingsley Amis was born to a working class family in London in 1922, but by the time of his death seventy-three years later he was a highly esteemed British man of letters who had been knighted by the Queen. Amis described himself as being a graduate of World War II and Oxford University. Being from a working class background - and lacking the advantages of having a family of means - he was able to attend the prestigious Oxford primarily through hs own academic achievements and abilities, and his modest family background undoubtedly placed limitations on his social movements through the university.
One of Amis's few close friends at Oxford was a fellow student named Philip Larkin, Larkin also eventually became a successful novelist and poet.
Kingsley Amis began his first novel, "Lucky Jim," in 1951 when he was only twenty-eight-years-old. He dedicated the book to Philip Larkin, and Larkin played an active role in editing the book. Over the years some readers and critics have felt that "Lucky Jim" was autobiographical in nature and that Amis was essentially describing his own life in the exploits of the book's central character, Jim Dixon. Both the author and the character were lecturers at out-of-the-way provincial universities, and both felt that life was on the verge of passing them by, and that they would forever be stuck in their mundane circumstances.
Others thought that the character of Jim Dixon was more of an intentional description of Philip Larkin than it was of Amis. In the bright light of hindsight, Dixon may have been a representation of both Amis and Larkin at that particularly formative stage of their lives.
"Lucky Jim," which was finally published in 1954, is today regarded as a comedic classic of British literature.
Jim Dixon, a.k.a. "Lucky Jim," was a lecturer of Midevil history at an out-of -the-way provincial college during the year or so that the novel encompasses. His position was tenuous. He was either at the first step of a long climb into the upper levels of academia, or he was, as he somewhat suspected, already at his educational pinnacle and preparing for a grand slide downward into public school teaching. Throughout his year of minor adventures, Jim seemed to sense that his career as a university lecturer would be short-lived, and at times he appeared to be actively sabotaging the future that he wanted so desperately to attain.
Jim had a small circle of friends at the university, some of whom seemed to be fostering his success and others who came across as working against him. He had a love interest of sorts, a neurotic professor named Margaret, who tried to control Jim's life - and the lives of others near her - through acts of high drama, such as a very sketchy attempted suicide. Jim also played up to his supervising professor, Dr. Welch, and ingratiated himself to the elder professor by attending social events with him and his family and even spending occasional weekends in their country home.
Jim enjoyed drinking, a habit which led to some embarrassing situations, and he also liked to smoke. At one point while visiting in Professor Welch's home, he had the predictable misfortune to fall asleep in his bedroom while intoxicated - and smoking - and woke up to find that he had burned a large hole in the bed clothes. Instead of owning up to his reckless behavior, Jim decided to cut the charred edges away from the holes in the sheets and blankets, and then to remake the bed so that the damaged bedding would be harder to notice. His cigarette had also burned across a bedside table, and he managed to hide that table in a storeroom that he discovered in the house.
The smoking-in-bed story, and the tale of a lecture given while intoxicated, and a lengthy description of an elder professor driving a car while not minding other traffic, served as the comedic fodder for this novel. Yes, there were several places where I found myself laughing out loud, but for the most part the story was more generally amusing than it was ribald.
"Lucky Jim" is a comedy of manners, a genteel period piece that reflects the times as they were in the lower branches of academia during the years just following World War II. The Jim Dixon whose life is revealed in the book's pages is undoubtedly representative of Kingsley Amis, Philip Larkin, and all of the other "angry young men" who were trying to both push and pull British literature - and British thought - into the light of the 20th century.
"Lucky Jim" is an important novel for its clever reflection of academic life in post-World War II Britain - but one reading will certainly suffice.
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