According to The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor, today, Jan. 28, is the birthday of David Lodge, author of Changing Places, a satirical novel about academia, which my husband and I read aloud to each other a couple years ago and thoroughly enjoyed. Here's a review on Better World Books:
"To everyone who was telling me I should read this: you were right, you were right, you were so so right. One of my favorite books is Kingsley Amis' Lucky Jim [another one my husband and I like too], so of course I would love Lodge's academic comedy—especially since it comes with the bonus of being set in Birmingham and Berkeley. They're not called Birmingham and Berkeley, of course, but if you have any familiarity with either locale, it becomes even more amusing to 'decode' the various place names (i.e., Silver Span, Cable Avenue, etc.). Further, the way Lodge plays with format (epistolary, newspaper clippings, film script) is both fun and effective, and there's a delightful amount of meta-humor. In short, I enjoyed this immensely."
Anyone who teaches, works or studies at a university knows there's always plenty of material for comedy. Lodge's humor is in good fun yet makes some serious points, as does all the best satire.
"To everyone who was telling me I should read this: you were right, you were right, you were so so right. One of my favorite books is Kingsley Amis' Lucky Jim [another one my husband and I like too], so of course I would love Lodge's academic comedy—especially since it comes with the bonus of being set in Birmingham and Berkeley. They're not called Birmingham and Berkeley, of course, but if you have any familiarity with either locale, it becomes even more amusing to 'decode' the various place names (i.e., Silver Span, Cable Avenue, etc.). Further, the way Lodge plays with format (epistolary, newspaper clippings, film script) is both fun and effective, and there's a delightful amount of meta-humor. In short, I enjoyed this immensely."
Anyone who teaches, works or studies at a university knows there's always plenty of material for comedy. Lodge's humor is in good fun yet makes some serious points, as does all the best satire.
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