Kingsley Amis (1922–1995)

‘Lucky Jim’ was recommended to me as a hilarious satire on academic life. It is, in a sense, however the fact that it intermittently amused me did not make up for its poisonous misogyny. All the male characters in the piece were terrible human beings and none of the women were allowed to be human beings at all. Particularly notable was Margaret. Despite being nominally an academic, she was discussed purely in terms of her hysteria (the word was used repeatedly) which supposedly stemmed from not being pretty. There were points in the book when I nearly stopped reading because the toxic attitude to women made me so angry. The main character, Dixon, was a lazy, often drunk, vicious incompetent whose efforts to keep his job descended perpetually into farcical disaster. The most entertaining subplot concerned his efforts to conceal the damage he’d caused by setting fire to bedclothes with a cigarette while drunk. I had no sympathy for his tribulations with employment or romance, as both academia and womankind were clearly better off as far away from him as possible. In short, what prevented this book from being the amusing satire I’d hoped for was its cruelty, especially to women.… (more)

This has been my third attempt at 'Lucky Jim'. And this time I did manage to finish it, in the manner of someone who is obliged to finish a particularly irksome piece of homework: without enthusiasm or enjoyment.

My own university years came at the tail end of the period Amis depicts, so I do recognise some of the types described. Socially inept Dixon himself, the hapless Professor Welch, highly-strung Margaret - I've met them all. However, in this case, I didn't really believe in them. And I liked none of them, particularly the irritating and lazy Dixon. Unable to involve myself in his quest for yet another cigarette or pint, or identify with his terminal lazinesss, I just wanted him to get on with it and get us both to the end of the book.

There are wonderful images, such as the justly famous description of a hangover: 'His mouth had been used as a latrine by some small creature of the night, and then as its mausoleum. During the night, too, he’d somehow been on a cross-country run and then been expertly beaten up by a secret police. He felt bad.' But it was a high price to pay, ploughing through the book on the off-chance of meeting gems such as this. Not on my 'to-read-again' shelf.… (more)