David Lodge

David Lodge 1935-, English novelist and critic, b. London, grad. University College, London (B.A., M.A.) and the Univ. of Birmingham (Ph.D.). Lodge taught at the Univ. of Birmingham (1960-87), during which time he wrote studies of Graham Greene (1966) and Evelyn Waugh (1971). His works of criticism, which deal mainly with modern literary theory, include The Language of Fiction (1966), The Modes of Modern Writing (1977), Working with Structuralism (1981), The Art of Fiction (1992), and Consciousness and the Novel (2002). Since 1987 he has been a full-time writer. Lodge has used his deep intimacy with the academic world in many of his novels, which reveal a talent for deft characterization, wry humor, and incisive commentary. At its best, Lodge's fiction combines satire with humane sympathy for his characters. His novels include The Picturegoers (1960), Changing Places (1979), Small World (1985), Nice Work (1988), Paradise News (1991), Therapy (1995), and Thinks … (2001).

Lodge, David (John) (1935– ), critic and novelist, born in London and educated at University College London; he has held several academic appointments and in 1976 became professor of modern English literature at the University of Birmingham. His critical works (The Novelist at the Crossroads, 1971; Modes of Modern Writing, 1977; Working with Structuralism, 1981; After Bakhtin, 1990) display his gift for lucid exposition, and he has done much to introduce and explain continental literary theory in Britain. His novels include The British Museum is Falling Down (1965); Changing Places (1975; a satirical ‘two-campus novel’ about a transatlantic academic exchange); and How Far Can You Go? (1980). Small World (1984) re-introduces the American academic Morris Zapp and the English professor Philip Swallow from Changing Places, in a jet-set world of international conferences, academic gamesmanship, and romantic pursuits. Nice Work (1988) is about the relationship between a businessman and an English lecturer. Later novels include Paradise News (1991), Therapy (1995), and Thinks (2001).