Line #25 Literature/LuckyJim


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/luckyjim.jpg]]
2	''Lucky Jim'' is a novel by Kingsley Amis, first published in 1954. A satire of post-war academic life in the UK, the story documents the woes of Jim Dixon (based on Kingsley's friend, the poet [[Creator/PhilipLarkin Philip Larkin]]), a reluctant first-year lecturer at an unnamed regional English college.
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4	Jim must struggle to keep his job and impress his advisor Professor Welch, all the while navigating his own personal problems. These include: an on-again, off-again relationship with his suicidal colleague Margaret, a series of dull arty events Welch forces upon him, his upcoming keynote lecture on "Merrie Old England", and a romantic rivalry with Welch's pretentious artist son Bertrand. Not to mention the fact that Jim utterly loathes his subject of study, Medieval History.
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6	The book has been a subject of several film and TV adaptations, most recently in 2003. ''Magazine/TimeMagazine'' included the novel in its “TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005” list.
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9	!!''Lucky Jim'' contains examples of the following tropes:
10	* AbsentMindedProfessor: Professor Welch. Jim describes him as a talented evader, and he manages to be late to everything.
11	* ArtsyBeret: Pretentious, self-absorbed artist Bertrand wears a blue beret when out and about.
12	* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Of a sort. Jim speculates that Christine's well-adjusted personality stems from her being beautiful, while Margaret's insecurity, manipulativeness, and tendency for drama is a result of her unattractiveness.
13	* {{Bookends}}: The novel begins with Jim submitting a paper to a newly-announced journal. The novel ends with seeing his paper [[spoiler: translated into Italian, in another journal, under the name of the 'editor' he submitted to.]]
14	* TheBore: The book is filled with these, but Professor Welch takes the cake, as he's prone to long, rambling digressions about subjects of little interest to Jim, mostly on the subject of obscure Medieval art forms. Bertrand also certainly qualifies. There's also Mitchie, a student who takes after Welch. He seems genuinely interested in Medieval History and will drone on about it at length to Jim.
15	* BungledSuicide: Before the story begins, Margaret tries unsuccessfully to kill herself with sleeping pills.
16	* TheDungAges: How Jim sees the Middle Ages. Jim would have liked to end his lecture with "Thank God for the 20th century."
17	* FakeFaint: Bill Atkinson fakes a faint at a dramatic moment during Jim's "Merrie Old England" lecture.
18	* FakingAnotherPersonsIllness: Jim gets Bill Atkinson to call at the Welches' to tell him that his parents are in the hospital. This is nonsense, but gives Jim an excuse to leave early.
19	* {{Farce}}: The book has a fast-paced, comedic plot that feeds upon coincidences and the flaws of its characters.
20	* FawltyTowersPlot: Jim loves these.
21	** After accidentally burning Mrs. Welch's sheets, he goes to elaborate lengths to cover it up. This leads him to resort to elaborate prank calls and impersonations when he needs to talk to someone in the Welch household later, as he's afraid of speaking with Mrs. Welch.
22	** Jim steals a taxi from a couple at the Formal, and then has to go through a number of steps to get away with it, including sending the taxi on an elaborate dance to avoid the couple's notice, hiding in the bushes, and bribing the driver.
23	* HystericalWoman: Margaret is very emotional and emotionally fragile, provoking feelings of obligation in Jim, who feels like he has to take care of her. At one point she actually goes into a fit of hysteria, and has to be slapped and given whiskey to snap out of it.
24	* LastMinuteHookup: [[spoiler: Jim and Christine breaking it off with their romantic rivals and]] getting together is the last thing to happen in the book.
25	* LoveDodecahedron: Jim is sort of seeing Margaret, who was seeing Catchpole at the same time as Jim until he broke it off. Jim prefers Christine, who is dating Bertrand, who is also sleeping with Carol Goldsmith, who is married to Cecil Goldsmith.
26	* OopNorth: Jim hails from Northern England, and sometimes affects a Northern accent when he's trying to make people like him, playing on the stereotype that the accent is trustworthy.
27	* PlayingSick: [[spoiler: Catchpole argues that Margaret's suicide attempt and general demeanor of mental illness]] are not genuine and are just a ploy for attention. After hearing this Jim decides not to worry about her anymore.
28	* PrankCall: Jim pretends to be a journalist from London over the phone in order to extract information from Bertrand. He frequently pretends to be someone else when calling the Welches'. By the end of the book, Jim notes that he "could probably write a book on non-business uses of phones".
29	* ProtagonistTitle: "Lucky" Jim Dixon is the book's protagonist.
30	* RaceForYourLove: Near the end, Jim finds out that Christine is leaving town to catch the 1:50 train to London, about an hour beforehand. He rushes to catch a bus to the station, which is supposed to arrive at 1:43, but the bus is running late. After an agonizing ride, he arrives right at 1:50 only to find out that the train actually left at 1:40, and the next one comes at 8. He is crestfallen, only to encounter Christine, who also thought the train arrived at 1:50 and has missed it. They reunite and [[spoiler: finally get together]].
31	* RomanticFalseLead: Bertrand, who's a pretentious {{Jerkass}}, is also dating Christine, one of Jim's {{Love Interest}}s.
32	* ShapedLikeItself: Jim has an adage that "Nice things are nicer than nasty things."
33	* SmallNameBigEgo: Bertrand isn't especially successful as an artist, and Gore-Urquart, a prominent patron of the arts, claims that Bertrand's work sucks, but Bertrand certainly acts like a big shot.
34	* SuicideByPills: Before the main story begins, Margaret tried [[BungledSuicide unsuccessfully]] to kill herself with sleeping pills.
35	* WillTheyOrWontThey: Jim and Christine both repeatedly change their mind about whether they want a relationship with each other, and for the first half of the book can't seem to get it straight about whether they like each other or not.

Context Literature / LuckyJim