the Rivages publishing house salutes an “immense scholar” who “made an impact on readers of the 1990s”

This great figure in British literature depicted the failings of academia with “so British” humor.

David Lodge was “an extremely important author for the Rivages publishing house who followed his entire work until the end”declared Friday January 3 on franceinfo Delphine Valentin, foreign literature editor at Editions Rivages who published David Lodge's latest book Succeed, more or less. British writer David Lodge has died aged 89. This great figure in British literature depicted with “so British” humor the failings of academia and the torments of Catholics in novels with a high autobiographical content.

A description confirmed by Delphine Valentin who explains that beyond Rivages, the writer “made an impact on readers of the 1990s”. He has “brought a new tone with this very English humor which left an impression on readers”. The editor explains that he “excavated this vein of English humor while talking about quite serious things” and this from his first texts.

Delphine Valentin explains that after the trilogy Change of scenery, A very small world et Board gamewe found the English writer in 1995 with Therapy in which “he began to evoke slightly deeper themes such as the experience of depression or even anxiety”. In 2008, with Muted lifehe then mentions “aging, retired life, bereavement, hearing loss and everything that sets us back from the world, but always with this humor, this ability to see things with perspective and self-deprecation “.

Delphine Valentin talks about a “immense scholar” who managed to pursue his career as a writer and academic “in a successful and balanced manner” : “As well as being a writer, he remained an academic for almost 30 years, I think, spending his entire career in Birmingham.”

As for its French success, the publisher explains that it was an era “where we were fond of that. In France, there was a taste for this discrepancy, at a time when the crisis in French or English economic life was already there. It brought a funny and realistic way of 'talk about all that'.