—from Lucky Jim(Chapter I)
Kinsgley Amis
[1]Dixon looked out of the window at the fields wheeling past, bright green after a wet April.It wasn’t the double-exposure effect of the last half-minute’s talk that had dumbfounded him, for such incidents formed the staple material of Welch colloquies ; it was the prospect of reciting the title of the article he’d written.It was a perfect title, in that it crystallized the article’s niggling mindlessness , its funereal parade of yawn-enforcing facts, the pseudo -light it threw upon non-problems.
[2]Dixon had read, or begun to read, dozens like it, but his own seemed worse than most in its air of being convinced of its own usefulness and significance.‘In considering this strangely neglected topic,’it began.
[3]This what neglected topic? This strangely what topic? This strangely neglected what? His thinking all this without having defiled and set fire to the typescript only made him appear to himself as more of a hypocrite and fool.‘Let’s see,’he echoed Welch in a pretended effort of memory: ‘oh yes; The Economic Influence of the Developments in Shipbuilding Techniques.After all, that’s what it’s...’
[4]Unable to finish his sentence, he looked to his left again to find a man’s face staring into his own from about nine inches away.The face, which filled with alarm as he gazed, belonged to the driver of a van which Welch had elected to pass on a sharp bend between two stone walls.
[5]A huge bus now swung into view from further round the bend.Welch slowed slightly, thus ensuring that they would still be next to the van when the bus reached them, and said with decision: ‘Well, that ought to do it nicely, I should say.’
[6]Before Dixon could roll himself into a ball or even take off his glasses, the van had braked and disappeared, the bus-driver, his mouth opening and shutting vigorously, had somehow squirmed his vehicle against the far wall, and, with an echoing rattle, the car darted forward on to the straight.Dixon, though on the whole glad at this escape, felt at the same time that the conversation would have been appropriately rounded off by Welch’s death.He felt this more keenly when Welch went on:‘If I were you, Dixon, I should take all the steps I possibly could to get this article accepted in the next month or so.I mean, I haven’t the specialized knowledge to judge...’His voice quickened:‘I can’t tell, can I? What it’s worth.It’s no use anybody coming to me and asking “What’s young Dixon’s stuff like?”unless I can give them an expert opinion of what it’s worth, is it now? But an acceptance by a learned journal would...would...You, well you don’t know what it’s worth yourself, how can you?’
[7]Dixon felt that, on the contrary, he had a good idea of what his article was worth from several points of view.From one of these, the thing’s worth could be expressed in one short hyphenated indecency ; from another, it was worth the amount of frenzied fact-grubbing and fanatical boredom that had gone into it; from yet another, it was worthy of its aim, the removal of the ‘bad impression’he’d so far made in the College and in his Department.But he said: ‘No, of course not, Professor.’
[8]‘And you see, Faulkner, it’s rather important to you that it should turn out to be worth something, if you see what I mean.’
[9]Despite being wrongfully addressed (Faulkner had preceded him in his post), Dixon knew what Welch meant, and said so.How had he made his bad impression? The most likely thing, he always thought, was his having inflicted a superficial wound on the Professor of English in his first week.This man, a youngish ex-Fellow of a Cambridge college, had been standing on the front steps when Dixon, coming round the corner from the library, had kicked violently at a small round stone lying on the macadam.Before reaching the top of its trajectory it had struck the other just below the left kneecap at a distance of fifteen yards or more.Averting his head, Dixon had watched in terrified amazement; it had been useless to run, as the nearest cover was far beyond reach.At the moment of impact he’d turned and begun to walk down the drive, but knew well enough that he was the only visible entity capable of stone- propulsion.He looked back once and saw the Professor of English huddled up on one leg and looking at him.As always on such occasions, he’d wanted to apologize but had found, when it came to it that he was too frightened to.He’d found the same when, two days later, he’d been passing behind the Registrar’s chair at the first Faculty meeting, had stumbled and had knocked the chair aside just as the other man was sitting down.A warning shout from the Registrar’s Clerk had averted complete disaster, but he could still remember the look on the face of that figure, stiffened in the shape of a letter S.Then there’d been that essay written for Welch by one of the Honors people, containing, in fact consisting of, abuse of a book on enclosures by, it transpired, one of Welch’s own ex-pupils. ‘I asked him who could possibly have filled his head with stuff like that, you see, and he said it was all out of one of your lectures, Dixon.Well, I told him as tactfully as I could...’Much later Dixon had found out that the book in question had been written at Welch’s suggestion and, in part, under his advice.These facts had been there for all to read in the Acknowledgements, but Dixon, whose policy it was to read as little as possible of any given book, never bothered with these, and it had been Margaret who’d told him.That had been, as near as he could remember, on the morning before the evening when Margaret had tried to kill herself with sleeping-pills.
[10]When Welch said in a far-away half-shout ‘Oh, by the way, Dixon,’Dixon turned to him with real avidity.‘Yes, Professor?’How much better to have more of what Welch could provide than thoughts of what Margaret would provide— commodities which he would in any case soon be sampling in their real form.
After You Read
Knowledge Focus
1.Pair work: Discuss the following questions with your partner.
1)What kind of person is Dixon? How do you know?
2)What is Dixon’s occupation? Do he like it? Is he doing well?
3)What kind of person is Welch? How are the relations between him and Dixon?
4)Why did the author describe “the last half-minute talk”as “double-exposure effects”?
5)What are the most impressive examples to display the author’s humorous and sarcastic writing style?
6)How do you interpret the sentence “It was a perfect title, in that it crystallized the article’s niggling mindlessness”?
7)What do you think of the opening sentence of his academic paper: “In considering this strangely neglected topic”?
8)What are the reasons for Dixon’s fear of losing the job?
2.Solo work: Decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F) according to the knowledge you learned and why.
____ 1)When the text starts, Dixon was sitting in an automobile watching the sceneries outside.
____ 2)The academic paper mentioned in the first paragraph was written by Welch.
____ 3)It is very easy for Dixon to “roll himself into a ball or even take off his glasses”, in the situation.
____ 4)Dixon sincerely felt that the conversation would have been appropriately rounded off by Welch’s death.
____ 5)Dixon felt that he had a good idea of how to write his paper from several points of view.
____ 6)Dixon has made his bad impressions on purpose.
____ 7)Once, Dixon stumbled another teacher from English department.
____ 8)Dixon could still remember the look on the face of that Registrar’s Clerk, stiffened in the shape of a letter S.
____ 9)There’d been an essay written for Welch by one of the Honors people, containing abuse of a book on enclosures by one of Welch’s own ex-pupils.
____ 10)Dixon’s policy was to read as little as possible of any given book.
Language Focus
1.Fill in the blanks with the following words you have learned from the text.
exposure colloquy pseudo
defile squirm
indecency frenzy
fanatical entity transpire
1)The basic operation of artistic photography is just the combination of shutter speed and _____ time.
2)His _____ ruined the graceful atmosphere of the party tonight.
3)When she went by her father’s room, she overheard the _____ between her parents.
4)Young parents without experiences can be driven _____ some time by taking care of their children.
5)As a special agent working for governmental intelligence organizations, James was just his _____ name.
6)When the girl saw her TV idol, her behaviors are so _____ that she was taken out by the guards.
7)The rootless rumor has totally _____ the teacher’s reputation.
8)Theoretically, every company accounts for an economical _____.
9)Worms _____ in the dirty sink made him want to vomit.
10)The purpose of the course is to train the envision ability of the students, and innovation ability,_____their thoughts.
2.Complete the sentences with the proper forms of the given words.
1)He was _____ (crystal) by the scholar’s speech, and now many interesting ideas are coming into his mind.
2)His friends and parents are always criticizing him about his _____ (mindless).
3)The weak and the poor are always the _____ (neglect) group in almost every type of societies, no matter developing or developed.
4)You have made yourself a _____ (hypocritical) when you told your boss you considered him as your best teacher and closest friend.
5)He revealed his _____ (indecency) behaviors after drunk.
6)Xiaoming was deeply involved in the _____ (amaze) of the circus performance.
7)Although very cruel, but wars are considered by a group of historians as the most effective _____ (propulsion) force of history.
8)From his _____ (frighten) facial expressions, we can all observe that he is really angry this time.
9)After she had been back from her field research trip, she took agriculture as the most _____ (significance) element for the society.
10)His speech was very _____ (convince).
3.Complete the sentences with the expressions listed below in their proper forms.
dumbfound set fire to fill with
elect to
roll into
round off make impression inflict on
huddle up with avidity
1)You fail by leaving the reader _____ and clueless as to why you sent such a letter.
2)He decided to _____ his trip to Europe with a brief visit go Germany.
3)The conversation _____ his dreams.
4)People meet, haveanice chat, exchange information, and _____ good _____.
5)As a music lover, his book shelves are _____ CDs now.
6)We should _____ severe chastisement _____ criminals.
7)In a democratic society, the leaders of the government are _____ serve the people.
8)The clothes lied _____ in a pile in the corner.
9)Cats always know how to _____ soft and warm little ball of fur.
10)Many audiences followed the tournament _____.
4.Find the appropriate prepositions that collocate with the neighboring words.
1)Dixon looked out of the window _____ the fields wheeling past.
2)It wasn’t the double-exposure effect _____ the last half-minute’s talk.
3)It crystallized the article’s niggling mindlessness, its funereal parade of yawn-enforcing facts, the pseudo-light it threw _____ non-problems.
4)His thinking all this _____ having defiled and set fire _____ the typescript.
5)He looked to his left again to find a man’s face staring _____ his own from about nine inches away.
6)A huge bus now swung _____ view from further round the bend.
7)Before Dixon could roll himself into a ball or even take _____ his glasses.
8)Dixon, coming _____ the corner from the library, had kicked violently_____ a small round stone lying on the macadam.
5.Proofreading.
Comprehensive Work
1.Pair work: Read the following passage about Kinsley Amis and share your information about him with your partner.
Sir Kingsley William Amis,(16 April 1922-22 October 1995) was an English novelist, poet, critic, and teacher.He wrote more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, various short stories, radio and television scripts, along with works of social and literary criticism.According to his biographer, Zachary Leader , Amis was “the finest English comic novelist of the second half of the twentieth century.”He was the father of English novelist Martin Amis.
In 2008, The Times ranked Kingsley Amis ninth on their list of the 50 greatestBritish writerssince 1945.
Amis’s first novel, Lucky Jim(1954), is perhaps his most famous, taking its germ from Amis’s observation of the common room at theUniversity of Leicester, where his friend Larkin held a post.The novel satirizes the high-brow academic set of aredbrickuniversity, seen through the eyes of its protagonist, Jim Dixon, as he tries to make his way as a young lecturer of history.The novel was perceived by many as part of the Angry Young Men Movement of the 1950s which reacted against the stultification of conventional British life, though Amis never encouraged this interpretation.Amis’s other novels of the 1950s and early 1960s similarly depict situations from contemporary British life, often drawn from Amis’s own experiences. That Uncertain Feeling(1955) centers on a young provincial librarian (again perhaps with reference to Larkin, librarian at Hull) and his temptation towards adultery; I Like It Here(1958) presents Amis’s contemptuous view of “abroad”and followed upon his own travels on the Continent with a young family; Take a Girl Like You(1960) steps away from the immediately autobiographical, but remains grounded in the concerns of sex and love in ordinary modern life, tracing the courtship and ultimate seduction of the heroine Jenny Bunn by a young schoolmaster, Patrick Standish.
2.Group work: Outline the plot of the novel Lucky Jim, and map out all the characteristics and temperaments of the character of Jim Dixon.
*Some widely accepted notions about the character of Jim Dixon:
There is more than a touch of the picaresque rogue in Jim Dixon.Jim perpetrates a succession of practical jokes, tricks, and deceptions on other characters in the novel, especially those who offend his democratic sensibility.He has a talent for “pulling faces”and projecting voices—gestures Amis uses to enhance Jim’s social commentary.He is sometimes aided and abetted in his roguery by his fellow boarder, the salesman Bill Atkinson.
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