Lodge, David

Lodge, David, 1935–, English novelist and critic, b. London, grad. University College, London (B.A., M.A.) and the Univ. of Birmingham (Ph.D.). Lodge taught at the Univ. of Birmingham (1960–87), during which time he wrote studies of Graham Greene (1966) and Evelyn Waugh (1971). His works of criticism, which deal mainly with modern literary theory, include The Language of Fiction (1966), The Modes of Modern Writing (1977), Working with Structuralism (1981), The Art of Fiction (1992), and Consciousness and the Novel (2002). Since 1987 he has been a full-time writer. Lodge has used his deep intimacy with the academic world in many of his novels, which reveal a talent for deft characterization, wry humor, and incisive commentary. At its best, Lodge's fiction combines satire with humane sympathy for his characters. His novels include The Picturegoers (1960), Changing Places (1979), Small World (1985), Nice Work (1988), Paradise News (1991), Therapy (1995), and Thinks … (2001).