Not since Lucky Jim has such a funny book about academic life come my way.
And for the first 100-odd pages I thought the 60's and 70's must have been a tragic era indeed if this was the best that the "comic academia" genre had to offer. Then, chapter (section?) 3. Corresponding begins, and I see that Lodge's genius is vested in letter-writing. Finally I was laughing out loud and reading sections to Sarah (who generously sometimes even pays attention when I interrupt her in the middle of her own book). My final opinion, in fact, is that one could simply dispense with the first two chapters (sections?) and start with the third. The final sections are necessary to know how it all turns out, but the letters in Corresponding tell you just about all you need to know from the first half of the book.
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