Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis

One fun source of books for my staggering TBR pile is Workman Publishing’s “Page a Day Calendar for readers.  Every morning I am greeted with a novel, biography, history, or poetry for my reading pleasure.  I knew about Kingsley Amis through the Booker Prize, which he won in 1996.  Lucky Jim is considered by many critics to be his best comic novel.

According to the biography in my copy, Kingsley Amis was a novelist, poet, and critic widely regarded as one of the greatest satiric writers of the 20^th century.  He was born in suburban South London.  He attended St. John’s College, Oxford on a scholarship where he began a lifelong friendship with poet Philip Larkin.  He served in the British Armey during World War II, and upon his “demobbing” – as the English put it – he finished his degree and joined the faculty of the University College of Swansea in Wales.  Lucky Jim, his first novel, was published in 1954.  He also taught for a year at Princeton University.  Amis published 24 novels, including his Booker Prize winner, The Old Devils.  He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1990.  He died in 1995. 

Lucky Jim is the story of Jim Dixon, a beleaguered lecturer of Medieval History.  Hanging onto his perch at an unnamed provincial university and capturing the girl of his dreams are his principle occupations.  Despite the age of this novel, it struck me as remarkably timely even today.  I place it on a shelf with other of my favorites set in academia, such as Beet, The English Major, Stoner, and Straight Man.

A cautionary word, the British humor is typically dry and requires some close attention to get the jokes.  Here is a sample of Amis describing a hangover: “He lay sprawled, too wicked to move, spewed up like a broken spider-crab on the tarry shingle of morning.  The light did him harm, but not as much as looking at things did; he resolved, having done it once, never to move his eyeballs again.  A dusty thudding in his head made the scene before him beat like a pulse.  His mouth had been used as a latrine by some small creature of the night, and then as a mausoleum.  During the night, too, he’d somehow been on a cross-country run, and then been expertly beaten up by secret police.  He felt bad” (60).

In an introduction by the critic and writer, Keith Gessen, Jim Dixon is modeled on Philip Larkin.  When Amis sent the manuscript to his friend for comment, Larkin responded that he ought to make Dixon more like Amis.  A funny exchange ensued with a catalogue of faces Amis could use. 

Amis gave up teaching, because it interfered with his writing.  Eventually, Amis surpassed his friend Larkin in notoriety, and the two drifted apart, despite a dedication to Larkin.  Kingsley Amis’ debut novel, Lucky Jim, is a hilarious romp through academia in the aftermath of World War II, and Amis deserves the acclaim he garnered.  5 Stars

--Chiron, 12/3/15

Stoner by John Williams

In a recent review, I mentioned my predilection for novels about books, book stores, and English Professors.  A day or so after writing the review, Stoner by John Williams came to my attention.  I had never heard of Williams or any of his works.  Scant information is available, and what I could find out remains largely undocumented.

Williams was born in northeast Texas in 1922.  His grandparents were poor farmers, and his first attempt at a junior college ended in failure after one year.  He joined the Army Air Corps during World War II, and while serving completed a draft of his first novel.  After discharge from the military, he moved to Colorado, and enrolled at the University of Denver.  He completed a BA in 1949 and an MA in 1950.  During this time, his first two books were published, a novel and a book of poetry.  He enrolled in the PhD program at the University of Missouri, which he completed in 1954.  He then returned to the University of Denver and became an assistant professor.  He remained in Denver until his retirement in 1985.  He died in 1994.  (Sources: various book reviews).

His third novel, Stoner, published in 1948, tells the tale of an English Professor at the University of Missouri.  William Stoner came from dirt poor farmers in Missouri.  His uneducated parents sent him to the University on the advice of a county agent, who suggested the young man could learn about modern agricultural techniques.  While a student, William lived with a cousin of his mothers, and helped work their farm.

During his first semester, he took agricultural classes and a survey of English Literature with the forbidding Archer Sloane.  He failed the class, but he was bitten with the mystery and beauty of literature.  He changed his major and completed a BA, then an MA and began teaching.  Then World War I interrupted the plans of many students and faculty who rushed off to fight for Democracy.  William did not enlist, but rather applied for and received a deferment.  He completed a PhD, and because of a shortage of faculty, was hired as an assistant professor.

Stoner is one of those rare novels which has such beauty, grace, and wisdom I was captivated from page one.  Williams writes, “Stoner’s colleagues, who held him in no particular esteem when he was alive, speak of him rarely now; to the older ones, his name is a reminder of the end that awaits them all, and to the younger ones it is merely a sound which evokes no sense of the past and no identity with which they can associate themselves or their careers” (4).  Stoner switched to English Literature because it “troubled and disquieted him in a way nothing had ever done before” (10).  As time passed, Professor Sloane asked Stoner what he intended to do with his life.  Stoner did not have a clue.  “‘But don’t you know, Mr. Stoner? … Don’t you understand about yourself yet?  You’re going to be a teacher.’  ‘Are you sure?’  ‘I’m sure,’ Sloane said softly” (20).  I could easily quadruple the length of this review with many more passages marked and underlined as wonderful as this.

This intelligent, thoughtful novel tracks an event which alters Stoner forever.  The prose is filled with literary references, philosophical musings, along with a dash of bitters and some drops of sweetness.  I nearly read this book in a single sitting.  I found myself identifying with William Stoner on many levels.  In fact, I think I will take that rarest of steps and read it again … now!  A mere five point scale simply will not do.  8 stars.  

--Chiron, 5/17/14

--Chiron, 5/17/14