The Elegant Variation: LUCKY JIM REMEMBERED

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April 14, 2004

LUCKY JIM REMEMBERED

The New York Sun takes a look back at "one of the funniest novels ever written" on its 50th anniversary.

“Lucky Jim” has a certain period flavor. It poignantly evokes the small but ubiquitous deprivations of postwar Britain: the hoarding of cigarette ends, the effort to make £3 last the nine days until the next paycheck. It was no doubt such aspects that led Somerset Maugham to pan the book, complaining about its celebration of the “white-collar proletariat” who were “scum.” (A sweet irony for Amis, then, that “Lucky Jim” won the Somerset Maugham Prize.) But “Lucky Jim’s” comedy was not all frayed collars and cramped living. It also deals with what might be described as perennial conundrums of the human condition.

Now there's a profound and original little bit of criticism ... Ahhh, the human condition. It does get around doesn't it? No doubt I will inspire more than the usual amount of hate mail when I admit I've never found Lucky Jim to be all that funny. I wanted to love it, really did - but it left me rather cold. It may be that I've never found the contretemps of tweed-bound academics to be bottomlessly hilarious. Or perhaps I simply have a really crummy sense of humor.

(Link via A&L Daily)

Posted at 07:30 AM | Permalink

Comments

I won't go so far as you about Lucky Jim, but I will myself admit that it's the only K. Amis novel that I have found to be funny. His humor is very heavy and lumpish, in my opinion.

Posted by: Dan Green | April 14, 2004 at 02:56 PM

Alright, I'll fess. While I admire Amis's way with words, I find his descendant David Lodge infinitely funnier (and more interesting, what with the literary and mythological morsels hidden beneath the guise of "popular novel").

Posted by: Ed | April 14, 2004 at 04:54 PM

Must admit having a problem with LJ as well, but I confess that I didn't make a great effort at it. Must try again.

Does it make me inferior to admit that I find Wodehouse far more engaging and laugh-out-loud funny?

Posted by: Bill Peschel | April 14, 2004 at 08:44 PM

Well, it's one of the few books that has made me laugh out loud--for me the ultimate test of funniness on the page--and I also find it rereadable, which is a test of a different kind.

Posted by: Terry Teachout | April 15, 2004 at 10:43 AM

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The Elegant Variation is "Fowler’s (1926, 1965) term for the inept writer’s overstrained efforts at freshness or vividness of expression. Prose guilty of elegant variation calls attention to itself and doesn’t permit its ideas to seem naturally clear. It typically seeks fancy new words for familiar things, and it scrambles for synonyms in order to avoid at all costs repeating a word, even though repetition might be the natural, normal thing to do: The audience had a certain bovine placidity, instead of The audience was as placid as cows. Elegant variation is often the rock, and a stereotype, a cliché, or a tired metaphor the hard place between which inexperienced or foolish writers come to grief. The familiar middle ground in treating these homely topics is almost always the safest. In untrained or unrestrained hands, a thesaurus can be dangerous."

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*Now in Paperback*

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SECOND LOOK

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The Elegant Variation

A Literary Weblog.
A Guardian Top 10 Literary Blog * A Forbes "Best of the Web" Pick * A Los Angeles Magazine Top Los Angeles Blog
"Really brave ... or really stupid" - NPR

April 14, 2004

LUCKY JIM REMEMBERED

Comments

MY NOVEL

WORTHY READINGS

TEV DEFINED

RECOMMENDED

THIS GUN FOR HIRE:
Reviews & Criticism

SECOND LOOK

Categories

The Elegant Variation

A Literary Weblog. A Guardian Top 10 Literary Blog * A Forbes "Best of the Web" Pick * A Los Angeles Magazine Top Los Angeles Blog "Really brave ... or really stupid" - NPR

April 14, 2004

LUCKY JIM REMEMBERED

Comments

MY NOVEL

WORTHY READINGS

TEV DEFINED

RECOMMENDED

THIS GUN FOR HIRE: Reviews & Criticism

SECOND LOOK

Categories

A Literary Weblog.
A Guardian Top 10 Literary Blog * A Forbes "Best of the Web" Pick * A Los Angeles Magazine Top Los Angeles Blog
"Really brave ... or really stupid" - NPR

THIS GUN FOR HIRE:
Reviews & Criticism