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Kingsley Amis

H Amis

Lucky Jim Paperback – June 22, 1992

by Kingsley Amis (Author), David Lodge (Introduction)

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A young Englishman embarks on a humorous crusade against traditional class structures

Print length

251 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Penguin Classics
Publication date

June 22, 1992
Reading age

18 years and up
Dimensions

5.06 x 0.52 x 7.76 inches
ISBN-10

9780140186307
ISBN-13

978-0140186307
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Amazon.com Review

Although Kingsley Amis's acid satire of postwar British academic life has lost some of its bite in the four decades since it was published, it's still a rewarding read. And there's no denying how big an impact it had back then--Lucky Jim could be considered the first shot in the Oxbridge salvo that brought us Beyond the Fringe, That Was the Week That Was, and so much more.

In Lucky Jim, Amis introduces us to Jim Dixon, a junior lecturer at a British college who spends his days fending off the legions of malevolent twits that populate the school. His job is in constant danger, often for good reason. Lucky Jim hits the heights whenever Dixon tries to keep a preposterous situation from spinning out of control, which is every three pages or so. The final example of this--a lecture spewed by a hideously pickled Dixon--is a chapter's worth of comic nirvana. The book is not politically correct (Amis wasn't either), but take it for what it is, and you won't be disappointed.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0140186301
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Classics; Revised edition (June 22, 1992)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 251 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780140186307
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0140186307
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6.9 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.06 x 0.52 x 7.76 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #440,331 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,150 in Classic American Literature
- #11,153 in Classic Literature & Fiction
- #22,791 in Literary Fiction (Books)

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2,795 global ratings

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Trane Lover Brian

Very British!!!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 19, 2023

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I think that most of the negative reviews I read about this must be from folks who don't appreciate the subtlety or quirkiness of British humor which is admittedly substantially different from almost any other type of humor on the face of the earth. This book does suffer from being a bit dated and the fact that a person would need to be able to comprehend British vernacular to some extent to gain an appreciation of the humor here. The moments that are funny are, to me, quite sarcastically funny but the book does have some plodding spots that drag the pace down a bit. This is more a book that invokes a chuckling response rather than riotous laughter but it is still quite a bit of fun. Jim is a jerk but the people around him are so much jerkier that one is not seriously offended by his abrasive personality. A common complaint about English humor is that nothing much really seems to happen and that does hold here in many instances but the moments that are quirky funny are enjoyable. I would give it 5 stars but the last 4 or 5 pages are disappointingly bland and I don't really like the way the story "ends," so to speak, very much. All in all I did enjoy reading this one but I certainly agree with the observation here expressed by another reader when he states that he would not read it again. To me a 5 star book of necessity implies that it was so enjoyable that it could be read again at some point and that is just not the case here as I can certainly say that once through was quite enough thank you. Altogether, however, I must admit to liking this book but if you don't quite understand or enjoy the wryness and subtle strangeness of British humor (reminds me of Alan Ayckbourn somewhat) this book is definitely not at all one that you might enjoy.

2 people found this helpful

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Rocky Macy

More Amusing than Ribald, One Reading Will Suffice

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 23, 2020

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Novelist and poet Kingsley Amis was born to a working class family in London in 1922, but by the time of his death seventy-three years later he was a highly esteemed British man of letters who had been knighted by the Queen. Amis described himself as being a graduate of World War II and Oxford University. Being from a working class background - and lacking the advantages of having a family of means - he was able to attend the prestigious Oxford primarily through hs own academic achievements and abilities, and his modest family background undoubtedly placed limitations on his social movements through the university.

One of Amis's few close friends at Oxford was a fellow student named Philip Larkin, Larkin also eventually became a successful novelist and poet.

Kingsley Amis began his first novel, "Lucky Jim," in 1951 when he was only twenty-eight-years-old. He dedicated the book to Philip Larkin, and Larkin played an active role in editing the book. Over the years some readers and critics have felt that "Lucky Jim" was autobiographical in nature and that Amis was essentially describing his own life in the exploits of the book's central character, Jim Dixon. Both the author and the character were lecturers at out-of-the-way provincial universities, and both felt that life was on the verge of passing them by, and that they would forever be stuck in their mundane circumstances.

Others thought that the character of Jim Dixon was more of an intentional description of Philip Larkin than it was of Amis. In the bright light of hindsight, Dixon may have been a representation of both Amis and Larkin at that particularly formative stage of their lives.

"Lucky Jim," which was finally published in 1954, is today regarded as a comedic classic of British literature.

Jim Dixon, a.k.a. "Lucky Jim," was a lecturer of Midevil history at an out-of -the-way provincial college during the year or so that the novel encompasses. His position was tenuous. He was either at the first step of a long climb into the upper levels of academia, or he was, as he somewhat suspected, already at his educational pinnacle and preparing for a grand slide downward into public school teaching. Throughout his year of minor adventures, Jim seemed to sense that his career as a university lecturer would be short-lived, and at times he appeared to be actively sabotaging the future that he wanted so desperately to attain.

Jim had a small circle of friends at the university, some of whom seemed to be fostering his success and others who came across as working against him. He had a love interest of sorts, a neurotic professor named Margaret, who tried to control Jim's life - and the lives of others near her - through acts of high drama, such as a very sketchy attempted suicide. Jim also played up to his supervising professor, Dr. Welch, and ingratiated himself to the elder professor by attending social events with him and his family and even spending occasional weekends in their country home.

Jim enjoyed drinking, a habit which led to some embarrassing situations, and he also liked to smoke. At one point while visiting in Professor Welch's home, he had the predictable misfortune to fall asleep in his bedroom while intoxicated - and smoking - and woke up to find that he had burned a large hole in the bed clothes. Instead of owning up to his reckless behavior, Jim decided to cut the charred edges away from the holes in the sheets and blankets, and then to remake the bed so that the damaged bedding would be harder to notice. His cigarette had also burned across a bedside table, and he managed to hide that table in a storeroom that he discovered in the house.

The smoking-in-bed story, and the tale of a lecture given while intoxicated, and a lengthy description of an elder professor driving a car while not minding other traffic, served as the comedic fodder for this novel. Yes, there were several places where I found myself laughing out loud, but for the most part the story was moe generally amusing than it was ribald.

"Lucky Jim" is a comedy of manners, a genteel period piece that reflects the times as they were in the lower branches of academia during the years just following World War II. The Jim Dixon whose life is revealed in the book's pages is undoubtedly representative of Kingsley Amis, Philip Larkin, and all of the other "angry young men" who were trying to both push and pull British literature - and British thought - into the light of the 20th century.

"Lucky Jim" is an important novel for its clever reflection of academic life in post World War II Britain - but one reading will certainly suffice.

10 people found this helpful

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"His spirits were so low he wanted to lie down and pant like a dog."

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 20, 2009

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LUCKY JIM is generally regarded to be a classic of English 20th-Century humor (the British branch). My recent re-reading of the novel, about 35 years after the first time I read it, confirms that reputation.

Not until the end of the novel does the reader understand why the protagonist, Jim Dixon, deserves the tag "Lucky Jim." For most of the novel he is a colossally inept and virtually spineless academic wannabe, who lets his life be manipulated and his psyche buffeted about by a gaggle of thoroughly unpleasant people. Near the end of the novel, shortly after the sentence quoted as the title for this review, Jim's fortunes improve immeasurably, not so much because of anything he does or any transformation in his character, but rather due to a couple fortuitous instances of deus ex machina. (LUCKY JIM is a comedy, and thus such improbabilities are acceptable.)

In his introduction to this edition, David Lodge states that LUCKY JIM was the first "British campus novel," and, indeed, much of it revolves around the shallow pretentiousness of academia. But the real target of Amis's wit -- when it is directed outwards, away from Jim Dixon -- is the British upper-middle-class in all its pomposity and hide-bound conventionality. The funniest passages, however, all deal with Jim Dixon and his foibles and insecurities and, especially, his drinking. (The description of Jim's hangover may be the best, and the funniest, such description I have ever encountered.)

More on David Lodge's introduction: It unfortunately is an example of a problem that afflicts many introductions to "classic" novels. Some of Lodge's introduction, just shy of the first eight pages, would be quite helpful if read before beginning the novel itself. But the rest of this "introduction" contains much that will spoil the plot, and thus much of the fun, for a first-time reader. (So if you are a first-time reader, be forewarned.) As with so many introductions, it should have been divided in two: a true "introduction" that helps orient the prospective reader but does not give away too much, reserving commentary on the plot and especially the ending for an "afterword" at the conclusion of the novel.

Whether you are a first-time or a returning reader, you can look forward to a very funny book, despite the fact that the passage of time has, I fear, dimmed its comedic luster a little. To my mind LUCKY JIM does not really qualify as "literature", but it is a highly entertaining, and literate, comedy.

5 people found this helpful

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Squeaky Joe

Enjoyable enough

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 6, 2020

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Lecturer Jim Dixon’s future in the History Department looks set to blossom, so long as he can forestall the amorous advances of Margaret, while trying to stay on the right side of Professor Welch and his annoying family. But getting lumbered with delivering a lecture on Merrie England isn’t Jim’s only problem…

This edition of the classic comedy caper has an introduction by David Lodge, which I’m sorry to admit I couldn’t be bothered to read. The book itself is enjoyable enough, though the idea of it being ‘hilariously funny’ as some folk would have it, just isn’t true. Amis writes in a way that must have been refreshing and quite delightful at the time (1954), and though his hero is likeable, the dialogue is peppered with clunky phrases that went out of fashion (if they were ever in), many years ago.

The character of Jim is said to be inspired by the poet Philip Larkin, though in my opinion, Larkin had a gift for humour that is light years away from Amis’s creation. While the author’s comments on culture and, in particular, the pretentious nature of people like the Welch family, is mildly amusing, I’d have to say that the novel doesn’t hold up too well against contemporaries like Graham Greene.

All in all, a bit disappointing.

11 people found this helpful

Mrs J H

Soporific

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 17, 2021

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I really struggled with this book, which was chosen for our book club. I do not understand how it was seen as a classic and must assume that it was “of its time“.

Like most of the people in our book club, I didn’t manage to finish it and ended up reading an online précis. It literally put me to sleep each night.

I have read most of the classics (including Shakespeare, Thomas Hardy, Jane Austin etc) and this is the first novel that I have not managed to complete. It was very difficult reading because it was simply not interesting.

In discussing at our book club, it would appear that people who are academics tend to get some of the jokes within the book, but I didn’t crack a smile once. Definitely not for me.

3 people found this helpful

walterono

falling in love with her surely follows

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 7, 2018

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Cutting edge when it was written, this book seems a little quaint now. The style gets positively clumsy in places. Amis has a habit of hyphenating words at random and / or using terms that don't sound quite right ('destination-screen' for buses, for example). When talking to one another, his characters frequently end their perorations with 'don't you see?' which is supposed to make them sound conversationally realistic but instead gives the impression they feel other people have to be bludgeoned into understanding.

Amis's standard comic mode is to ridicule his characters by having the hero view them as if he had just arrived from another planet and had nothing in common with them. The effect of this is to make their every action seem bizarre and inexplicable. While this strategy pays unfailing comedic dividends, it doesn’t exactly make for depth of character, because the characters are always viewed from the outside.

Jim Dixon himself constitutes the measure by which other characters (except Christine) are found wanting. His own beliefs seem to be 1) what he believes is invariably the case, 2) he thinks he is in the wrong job (why did he take it in the first place?), 3) other people are crosses to be borne, and 4) once prettiness in a woman has been established, falling in love with her surely follows.

Having said all of this, it is true that Welch, if not Jim Dixon himself, is one of the great comic characters in literature. And it is pleasant to be back in the days before smartphones and computers when people held one another on the dance floor and wallflowers sat at the side hoping in vain to be invited.

15 people found this helpful

Graham G Grant

Sex Life in Merrie England

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 26, 2020

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From start to finish, Lucky Jim is full of laughs - and some introspective moments, as the eponymous hero tries to negotiate the pitfalls of academic life. Jim Dixon is a lecturer on probation at an unnamed provincial university. He’s desperate for a full-time posting. But there’s an obstacle - his slightly deranged boss, Professor Welch, whose amateur painter son Bertrand is Jim’s nemesis. Bertrand is with Christine, who quickly becomes the object of Dixon’s affection. Dixon is also unhappily romantically involved with Margaret Peel, a fellow lecturer. There are tremendous set-pieces and wickedly funny passages throughout. And there’s a trademark Amisian cruel streak - the odd sentence that, to modern readers, may be a bit jarring. It’s not a text that feminists are likely to rate very highly. Dixon is also capable of some judgments about the women in his life that are pretty sweeping and heartless. But his honesty makes him all the more plausible as the lead character in a riotous campus comedy that’s beautifully structured, and was to prove highly influential.

3 people found this helpful

Dr. Laurence Raw

A Rattling Good Read of a Bygone Age with Contemporary Resonance

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 3, 2018

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The principal aspect of Kıngaley Amis's famous novel to note is that it had little relationship to the famous Boulting Brothers film of 1957. The film starred Ian Carmichael playing Jim in Ian Carmichael style as something of a bumbler with a penchant for alcohol. He was at his best in the climactic lecture scene on Merrie England, where he reduced the meeting to absolute chaos in minutes with an incoherent spiel. After that performance, it was inevitable that he would be faced with the sack,

The book concentrates far more on Jim Dixon's complicated love-life involving three women - Margaret, Carol, and Christine. The three women are very different, but all love him to a greater or lesser extent. It is Jim's tragedy (or good fortune, perhaps) to love all three, but not to make any decision as to which one he prefers, much to the ladies' chagrin. He nearly gets to the marital state with one of them, but she withdraws at the last minute.

LUCKY JIM is in many ways a historical document, describing a world of tertiary education that has disappeared forever, where staff didn't have to publish much and the concept of getting money for the university in the form of grants was unheard. Faculty members just had to bowl up, give their classes, and were generally left alone. Dixon's boss, Professor Welsh, has published a little, but not for many years. On the other hand the university environment has not changed as much as we might think: Dixon's department is riven with petty struggles between academic competing with one another for promotion as well as professiorial favor. Jim Dixon has to remain polite to Welsh, even though he cannot stand the senior man. For non-university people, the world should like s hotbed of personal struggles: anyone who has been through this life will recognize it instantly.

Kingsley Amis, for one who cultivated such an acerbic public personality during his lifetime, writes sympathetically. He understands Jim's struggles - most likely the book is more autobiographical than the author would have admitted - and how he is looking for something constructive, both professional and personal. He has to learn how to branch out away from university life to find it, however.

The book itself remains a rattling good read, a record of a world gone by as well as of a world unfortunately dominant in contemporary academe.

8 people found this helpful

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