Scenes of Academic Life

by David Lodge

David Lodge has entertained readers for forty years with his often hilarious tales of on- and off-curriculum shenanigans at university campuses. Penguin has published eighteen of Lodge's books in paperback since 1978, and here he has selected some of the most memorable moments from his novels, illustrating the high-minded (and low-minded) life of the academic, and the changing fortunes of Britain's places of higher education.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Literature

55 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

David John Lodge was an English author and critic. A literature professor at the University of Birmingham until 1987, some of his novels satirise academic life, notably the "Campus Trilogy" – Changing Places: A Tale of Two Campuses (1975), Small World: An Academic Romance (1984) and Nice Work (1988). The second two were shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Another theme is Roman Catholicism, beginning from his first published novel The Picturegoers (1960). Lodge also wrote television screenplays and three stage plays. After retiring, he continued to publish literary criticism. His edition of Twentieth Century Literary Criticism (1972) includes essays on 20th-century writers such as T.S. Eliot. In 1992, he published The Art of Fiction, a collection of essays on literary techniques with illustrative examples from great authors, such as Point of View (Henry James), The Stream of Consciousness (Virginia Woolf) and Interior Monologue (James Joyce), beginning with Beginning and ending with Ending.

Reviews

[Nofar Spalter · Rating 1 out of 5]

David Lodge chose the excerpts in this book himself, and that's telling. Some of them are funny, but generally they feel stale, and the last one has a strong whiff of sexism (he likes you, darling, so it's OK that he's stalking you, and he's such a great manager that really, you should be grateful).
I'm not planning on reading his books.

[My Little Forest · Rating 2 out of 5]

A campus novel whose primary core is made of metafictional bits within a compilation of Academic scenes that are post-structured in no-return coarse-tongued dialogues, which overall makes the reader wonder, what was the point of all this?

[Gloria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, it is a good introduction, I gather, to some of David Lodge's writing…

and as I am always interested in taking a look at books about academic life, it was worth the quick read (the book is quite slim).

I did find some of it funny; but overall, it made me think of the sad state of affairs in the Literature departments around the world. I'm a little more intrigued by the book Changing Places primarily as a comparison between British versus American universities (with some ribbing, of course).

And it figures that most of the books of this genre (Death in a Tenured Position, ....oh I can't remember the other ones at this moment at this early morning hour, will return to this) are about English departments. What would the genre look like if more scientists wrote about it? Ah, they would probably end up creating equations or something instead…

[Coenraad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lodge selected these six exerpts from his novels himself. He highlights sections specifically about academic life, especially how English and American enterprises differ. Discussing deconstruction before an unappreciative audience, or explaining metaphor and metonymy to a captain of industry - Lodge is as insightful as he is entertaining. Now to find the time to read the novels in full!

Lodge se selfgekose uittreksels uit sy sogenaamde kampusromans belig akademiese denke en aktiwiteite. Dit is nie naastenby so swaartillend as wat dit mag klink nie; trouens, sy gemaklike skryfstyl verseker dat die situadies hoogs vermaaklik word.

[Muphyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Excerpts from various David Lodge's books. Some quite funny, others less so.

I don't think I should have read it at this particular point in time - I am just so over academia that I can't even find this kind of stuff funny. It's just irritating. Might have liked it a bit more had I read it while in a different mood. But then again, it's quite explicit in some ways, which I don't appreciate anyway.

[Irwan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good reading. Reading it while a student, I could relate to the academic life described in the book. But no special impression registered in my memory about it.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this reminded me why I have several David Lodge novels in my collection. Loved it.

[Priscilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you haven't read any of his full novels, this is a good introduction to Lodge's sense of humor.

[Alix · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very entertaining - would reread at some point in the future, because it was pretty good and not too long at all. Light subject matter.