Centered in Rummidge, a sprawling industrial town in the English midlands, Nice Work confirms Lodge's rare capacity to be thought-provoking, moving, and very funny. "A singularly brilliant and invigorating performance".--Chicago Tribune.

When Phillip Swallow and Professor Morris Zapp participate in their universities' Anglo-American exchange scheme, the Fates play a hand, and each academic finds himself enmeshed in the life of his counterpart on the opposite side of the Atlantic. Nobody is immune to the exchange: students, colleagues, even wives are swapped as events spiral out of control. And soon both sun-drenched Euphoric State University and rain-kissed University of Rummidge are a hotbed of intrigue, lawlessness and broken vows...'Not since Lucky Jim has such a funny book about academic life come my way' - "Sunday Times". --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Jane Austen to Paul Auster, irony to magical realism, the novelist's art is revealed in an entertaining and enlightening book for readers and writers--from the author of Nice Work. Here are 50 of David Lodge's articles from the acclaimed series that engaged and delighted readers of The Washington Post and the London Independent.

Veteran rivals for an exclusive academic chair (recently endowed with $100,000 a year) do scholarly battle with each other in what the Washington Post Book World called a "delectable comedy of bad manners . . . infused with a rare creative exuberance". From the author of the award-winning Changing Places.

英伦“学院派小说”的主将戴维•洛奇的最新小说，饱受多年耳背之苦的戴维•洛奇终于将自己的这一痼疾与渐入老境的生活和精神状态一吐为快，《失聪宣判》可算是作者“退休学院派”的天鹅之歌。 小说的主人公、英国北方某大学语言学系主任德斯蒙德•贝茨教授身为语言学专家却不幸罹患了“高频性耳聋”，又赶上学校要将自己执掌的语言学系并入英语系，为求一个体面的退路，无奈之下只得选择提前退休，基本上成为一个“家庭妇男”。自己的人生逐渐走向低谷的同时，二婚的老婆却焕发了第二春，非但生意做得红红火火、取代丈夫成为家庭的经济支柱，整个人的体型外貌乃至精神面貌也由此而焕然一新。 然而“失聪是喜剧，失明才是悲剧”，戴维•洛奇将自己笔下这个极富自传性的退休教授由事业失势身体失聪而导致的各种喜剧情境，以典型的英式幽默手法展现得淋漓尽致。可是“deaf sentence”（失聪宣判）与“death sentence”（死亡判决）毕竟只有一个辅音之差，小说在恣肆无忌的喜剧氛围中也隐隐透出“人生无常”的悲剧意味，带上了“长日将近”的阴郁色彩，由此成就了《失聪宣判》冷热杂糅、悲喜交融的丰厚意蕴。