- Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: Penguin; New Ed edition (27 Jun 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140072659
- ISBN-13: 978-0140072655
- Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 2.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 211,433 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
The unbridled greed, pettiness, buffoonery and intellectual gobbledegook in the world of higher scholarship are the topics of this thorough and thoroughly funny "roman à English department". It's interesting for a couple of reasons, aside from its humour and lampoonery: it's an insider's view of things--always the best kind--and it takes its old- fashioned time telling a story, complete with reasonable digressions about the state of literary criticism and what may or may not be a realistic view of the academic life.
About the Author
David Lodge has written many bestselling novels, including THINKS and NICE WORK. His books have sold well over a million copies in Penguin. Formerly Professor of English at Birmingham University, he now writes full-time. He continues to live in Birmingham.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
"APRIL is the cruellest month," Persse McGarrigle quoted silently to himself, gazing through grimy windowpanes at the unseasonable snow crusting the lawns and flowerbeds of the Rummidge campus. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
"APRIL is the cruellest month," Persse McGarrigle quoted silently to himself, gazing through grimy windowpanes at the unseasonable snow crusting the lawns and flowerbeds of the Rummidge campus. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Small World is the second book in the Rummidge University trilogy. In this novel we re-meet Professor Philip Swallow and Professor Morris Zapp, both of whom are still getting up to their old antics (see "Changing Places").
From conference to conference, country to country, continent to continent, Persse McGarrigle devotedly woos the beautiful, and intelligent, Angelica Pabst. Yet her irregular flight patterns and love for lectures do as much good to Persse McGarrigle's bank balance as Mount Vesuvius did to the ancient inhabitants of Pompeii. In the same way her morals leave the young catholic in a state of Mortal Sin just thinking about them.
As the novel unfolds we are overwhelmed by the author's extensive knowledge, and find out more useless information than you would ever extract from a months viewing of National Geographic.
The story line of this book is so excellently portrayed, that just by reading the first page you will have been overcome with intrigue and mystery, and will not only want to read on, but will try to finish the chapter in one night. Which is practically impossible, as the first chapter of Small World is 57 pages long.
Thus, if you are looking for intense humour, sentimentality, and a good read, Small World is certain to tickle your taste buds (or at least prove a fascinating read).
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Apart from being a parody of the Grail story (according to Lodge himself and some other critics), the surface story of the academics is definately among the wittiest of all the books I've read--and quite some of the plots are based on true happening, e.g. the scholars using one presentation on numerous occasions, and you run into the same group of "professional conferees" around the globe. I've been through these, both inside and outside the academic circle. Anyone, one of the best modern British novels, and highly recommended.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is probably David Lodge's best novel, and probably the best-ever British academic satire (way better than either 'The History Man' or 'Lucky Jim').
A 'small world' itself, it packs an amazing amount of plot and incident and a huge cast of characters into a medium-length novel. It is a book that is still very funny after a number of readings.
My favourite subplot is the man with a conference paper to present, who just can't get past the first page, and his increasingly desperate attempts to complete it.
Other minor characters are hilarious, such as Fulvia Morgana, the seductive, decadent and improbably rich Italian Marxist professor. Or the Japanese translator struggling to understand a novel he is working on in Black Country dialect.
This is a novel so influential that I have seen it cited in two academic books for its satire of certain intellectual trends.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Can hardly believe it's by the same author!
With 'Nice Work' and 'Changing Places' being two of my favourite novels of any genre by a modern British author I settled down to finally read the remaining book in the trilogy... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Young Goblin
A very human comedy. Shortlisted for the Booker 1984
This is the second in David Lodge's trilogy of campus novels set in the fictional city of Rummidge. When Small World was published in 1984 Davd Lodge was Emeritus Professor of... Read more
Published on 26 Nov 2009 by S. Barnes
Absolutely hilarious
This was the first Lodge book I read, and I absolutely adored it. It made me snort with laughter on the bus to work, so maybe not a good book to read in public!
Published on 30 Jan 2009 by L. Allen
true to life
As a scientific conference organizer since the 1980's I can recommend this book for anyone who has ever organized an event. Read more
Published on 22 April 2008 by Philippe Geril
The mile-high club
Of David Lodge's 'trilogy' of campus novels (including 'Changing Places' and 'Nice Work'), 'Small World' is arguably the most dated. Read more
Published on 11 Mar 2008 by Demob Happy
I lost interest in it
I have liked some of David Lodges books, but found the characters in this one uninteresting, and the uninteresting dialog finally turned me off - I just decided I had more... Read more
Published on 19 Jan 2006
Jilly Cooper Does It Better.
My God, I thought this one of the most dreadful books I've ever read: a Jilly Cooper novel with pretensions of literary grandeur. Read more
Published on 27 Jun 2000
A wonderful satire of academic life
Small World, the second in Lodge's Rummidge trilogy, has it all: mystery, unrequited love, Marxist historians, sex fiends, poetry. Read more
Published on 26 Mar 2000
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