Lucky Jim

Lucky Jim.

Someone else likened this book to growing up with The Beatles; they were this big thing that was a total change of pace for their contemporaries, but to a generation that grew up with them they aren't anything exciting or special. That's such an apt description I couldn't put it better myself, this is like the Beatles if you were born well after Beatlemania; it's great stuff but your parents (and maybe even grandparents) listen to it.

I think I could stop the review there but I think that would turn off potential readers, after all, who wants to read a nearly 70-year-old book after being told it's “something your parents listened to”. Even more so, why would anyone want to read a comedy from 1955, everyone knows they invented humor in the 70s. Well if you're still with me, here's why: this is still just as funny and well-written as the day it was published. Like seriously there are some moments in this book that seem straight out of Monty Python or even American works like Caddyshack and for good reason, it's books like this that helped to define the tradition of British Humor. I'm not saying that this is the birthplace of modern comedy or satire, but this book comes from and is itself a part of a shared cultural backdrop rather than a direct influence on modern comedy.

I think what makes it read so well in 2023 is just how relatable it can be. Jim Dixon is a professor at a provincial university and it's clear that he cares just as much for his subject of study as I do, which is to say not at all. He's stuck in a situationship with a girl he doesn't remember ever initiating with and is scared to end it for fear of how she'll take it. He spends the whole of the book trying his best not to be fired while simultaneously doing as little work as humanly possible. That sounds like college if it's ever been described to me, and even if my personal experience wasn't exactly the same Amis hits enough notes on the register to play a recognizable tune. The same social commentary that this made in the 50s, the experience of the first generation of common folk to enter into the elite circles of higher ed still rings true. Modern higher ed has done away with a lot of the pomp and snobbery but I think the experience of trying to get into your doctoral advisor's good books can't have changed much.

All of this is to say that the humor translates well enough over the 70-year culture gulf, this reads like the bones of those classic 80's National Lampoon comedies. Dixon himself is an agent of chaos and a delightful screwball, his approach to the stodgy and alien environment of higher education is what I can only describe as social judo and it is genuinely funny. Having said that it needs to be noted that the social landscape of this period is by modern standards mind-blowingly antiquated and so some of the subtext/satire is lost in translation since everything seems old and out of fashion. As an example, early in the book, Jim is invited to the home of Professor Welsch for a night of madrigals and “culture”. The setup here is a satirical one as even by 1950s conventions, hosting an evening of madrigals is preposterously old-fashioned and a kind of elitist bullshit. From the perspective of a modern reader, the idea of an evening of singing/live performance of any kind in a residence is a totally alien concept so what does it matter if it's madrigals or caroling or whatever else.

This might be the only book that's a part of the English canon that is genuinely still entertaining to read. It goes to show that just because it is old doesn't mean it isn't gold.