“No wife who finds her husband addicting himself to science fiction need fear that he is in search of an erotic outlet, anyway not an overt one.”

 

In "New Maps of Hell" by Kingsley Amis

 

To put it in another context, imagine I'd be teaching F. Scott Fitzgerald to undergraduates, some of whom would be of African descent. Do we look at the casual racism found in the books and say "that's wrong?" No, we assume that everyone "gets" that it's wrong. But we look at the fact that this was considered normal/acceptable in F. Scott's day. He's still a magnificent writer, but he reflects his own era. Scott’s similar to Amis. His attitude to women is a reflection of the times. We can't shy away from that and pretend it isn't so, and we can't negate him as a writer, because of it.

 

Imagine yourself living in Lisbon as a young woman; wouldn’t you dread the endless comments, abuse, physical assaults that were part of your everyday experience. Maybe this young woman dreamt of buying an electric cattle prod and zapping those who threatened her. But it was the times in which they lived back then. Women had no rights in the 60s. The literature of the times, reflected that. Shall we zap Amis with a cattle prod for being a man of his time? No. First of all, I believe that all good books, whether niche or mainstream or somewhere in-between, must have an implicit message they are trying to put across, which should stick out almost like a sore thumb. That said, I in no way think this should make books programmatic. Writing a novel with the sole purpose of creating a text more politically correct than anything that has ever been written might take away, all at once, all the drama and conflict that all good novels - needless to say, I am merely expressing my own point of view here - play with to a certain extent. Secondly, SF (fantasy and science-fiction), possibly more so than any other genre, and even at their most mechanically chlichéd, are written and read not simply for "idle entertainment", but as a platform for escapism. And "entertainment" and "escapism" are definitely not the same thing. Sure, escapism includes enjoyment, but there are many other elements to it as well. 

 

 

If you're into SF Criticism, read on.

Currently $1.99: Lucky Jim, by Kingsley Amis.  The Redbreast, by Jo Nesbo. Strong Poison, Murder Must Advertise, The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, Have His Carcase, The Nine Tailors, and Busman's Honeymoon, by Dorothy L. Sayers.  Friday the Rabbi Slept Late, by Harry Kemelman.  The Second Coming, by Walker Percy.  Sprig Muslin, A Civil Contract, The Unknown Ajax, Bath Tangle, and Sylvester: Or the Wicked Uncle, by Georgette Heyer.  Lost Horizon, by James Hilton.  Crazy Horse and Custer, by Stephen Ambrose.  Can't Anybody Here Play this Game? by Jimmy Breslin.

 

Currently $2.99: West with the Night, by Beryl Markham.  The Prince of Tides, The Great Santini, The Water Is Wide, and The Lords of Discipline, by Pat Conroy.  The King Must Die and The Last of the Wine, by Mary Renault.  Sophie's Choice, by William Styron.  Up the Down Staircase, by Bel Kaufman.  More Than Human, by Theodore Sturgeon.  The Lord God Made Them All, by James Herriot.  Cheaper by the Dozen, by Frank B. Gilbreth and Ernestine Carey.  Roosevelt: The Lion and the Fox, by James McGregor Burns.  Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, by Dee Brown.  The Fifties, by David Halberstam.  A Night to Remember, by Walter Lord. 

 

I tend to be very unfair to comic (humorous) novels, I have this unreasonable demand that every page makes me laugh. Quite a tall order for the poor authors I think, but I can’t help it, so I generally avoid reading comic novels. I stumbled upon an audiobook of Lucky Jim on Youtube and thought I’d give it a go as it is often listed as one of the all-time great novels; my aversion to comic novels notwithstanding (freebies conquer all).

Lucky Jim is the story of James Dixon a history lecturer at a provincial English university. Dixon is not terribly good at his job, lacking interest in the subject he is teaching or academia itself. He is more interested in recruiting pretty students for his class. What he lacks in teaching skills he makes up for in sass. Throughout the novel Jim is preoccupied by Margaret, a fellow lecturer with emotional issues who he had a romantic relationship with. His attempt to break up with her triggers a hysteric reaction (possibly faux-hysteria as she is quite manipulative). He later meets and fall heads over heel in love with Christine Callaghan a more attractive girl with a good sense of humour, the only snag is she appears to be spoken for.

There is not much more than that to the plot apart from Jim getting into scrapes and his attempt to get out of them by his outlandish plans which sometime backfire on him with hilarious results. His favorite artifice is to put on accents to make fake telephone calls to create an alibi for himself or to get out of appointments.

Much of the humour of the book comes from the dialog and Jim’s unflattering observations of himself and other characters, and his unending sarcastic comments. Lucky Jim certainly did not make me laugh on every page but it is funny enough to get a pass from me. I feel there is not much substance to the book to treasure in the long term and the development of most characters tends to be rather perfunctory; especially female characters who are portrayed without much depth or agency. The only character the reader gets to know very well is Jim. An important aspect of the book’s humour is the satire of academic life from the faculty’s point of view, but I have too little knowledge or experience of such a life to appreciate this side of it.

Anyway, I cannot think of much to say about this book, it worth reading if you like comic novels where the laughs come mainly from witticisms rather than slapsticks (though there is a bit of that too). I much prefer it to that other humorous classic [b: Three Men in a Boat|4921|Three Men in a Boat|Jerome K. Jerome|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1392791656s/4921.jpg|4476508] which I found to be almost entirely mirth-free. As for Lucky Jim’s status as a classic I have no idea what that is about.