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Deaf sentence a novel

Desmond Bates is a recently retired linguistics professor vexed by his encroaching deafness and at loose ends in his personal life. Without the purposeful routine of the academic year, he finds his role reduced to that of escort and house-husband while his wife's late-flowering career as the ow...

Full description

Main Author: Lodge, David, 1935-
Format: Books Print Book
Language: English
Published: New York, N.Y. : Viking, 2008.
Edition: 1st American ed.
Subjects:
Older deaf people > Fiction.
Aging > Fiction.
Marital conflict > Fiction.
Psychological fiction.
Summary: Desmond Bates is a recently retired linguistics professor vexed by his encroaching deafness and at loose ends in his personal life. Without the purposeful routine of the academic year, he finds his role reduced to that of escort and house-husband while his wife's late-flowering career as the owner of a home design store flourishes. The monotony of his days is relieved only by wearisome journeys to London to check on the welfare of his querulous, elderly father, an ex-dance musician. But these discontents are nothing compared to the affliction of hearing loss, which is a constant source of domestic friction and social embarrassment. It is through his deafness that Desmond inadvertently gets involved with a young woman who seeks his support in matters academic and not so academic; and whose wayward and unpredictable behavior threatens to destabilize his life completely.--From Amazon.com.
Physical Description: 294 p. ; 24 cm
ISBN: 9780670019922
0670019925
Author Notes: Writing both literary criticism and novels, British author David Lodge has learned to practice what he teaches. A professor of Modern English literature, both his fiction and nonfiction have found a large readership in the United Kingdom and the United States. To maintain his dual approach to writing, Lodge has attempted to alternate a novel one year and a literary criticism the next throughout his career.

Lodge's fiction has been described as good writing with a good laugh, and he is praised for his ability to treat serious subjects sardonically. This comic touch is evident in his first novel, "The Picturegoers" (1960) in which the conflict of Catholicism with sensual desire, a recurrent theme, is handled with wit and intelligence. "How Far Can You Go" (1980) released in United States as "Souls and Bodies" (1982) also examines sexual and religious evolution in a marvelously funny way. "Changing Places: A Tale of Two Campuses" (1975, 1979), based on Lodge's experience in Berkeley as a visiting professor, won the Hawthorne Prize and the Yorkshire Post fiction prize and solidified his reputation in America. Some of the author's other hilarious novels include "Nice Work" (1989), which Lodge adapted into an award-winning television series, and "Therapy" (1995), a sardonic look at mid-life crisis.

Lodge's nonfiction includes a body of work begun in 1966 with "The Language of Fiction" and includes "The Art of Fiction: Illustrated from Classic and Modern Texts" (1992) and "The Practice of Writing: Essays, Lectures, Reviews and a Diary"(1996). In a unique approach, he often uses his own works for critical examination and tries to give prospective writers insights into the complex creative process.

David John Lodge was born in London on January 28, 1935. He has a B.A. (1955) and M.A (1959) from University College, London and a Ph.D. (1967) and an Honorary Professorship (1987) from the University of Birmingham. Lodge is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

(Bowker Author Biography)

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