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David Lodge - Changing Places

Two main Characters: Personality, Family, Career

Morris Zapp

  • 40 years old
  • smoker
  • he never left america so far
  • never been to England
  • on his flight, he was the only man on board
  • long gorilla-like arms
  • professor of English Literature
  • cannot swim
  • light-headed
  • veteran of long distance flying
  • he exaggerates
  • he's got his second wife, Desirée; she wants the divorce
  • two children: Elizabeth and Darcy
  • distinguished
  • published articles in PMLA (journal of the Modern Language Association of America)
  • published 5 books
  • achieved rank of full prof at the age of 30
  • wife wants him to move away for half a year → Morris takes the exchange job
  • is prone to indigestion after rich restaurant meals
  • usually needs a sleeping-pill before retiring
  • develops a pot-belly
  • has neither affection nor respect for the British (thinks they act like fags = gays)

('bottomless morass of English manners' p.47)

  • apartment on the top floor of a huge old house owned by an Irish doctor called O'Shea


Philipp Swallow

  • afraid of flying
  • 40 years old
  • unaccustomed to traveling
  • unconfident
  • infinitely suggestible
  • observes other people
  • conservative/traditional
  • married
  • good imagination
  • professor of English Literature
  • excited about flying/travelling
  • he met Charles Boon, an old student of him, on his flight and he is going to Euphoria State School, too
  • not distinguished
  • he liked examinations and did well in them
  • Finals had been the supreme moment of his life
  • truely loved literature
  • applied for a Fellowship to America
  • applied for an Assistant Lectureship at the University of Rummidge
  • went to Harvard but he didn't really like it
  • got to know Hilary Broome (postgraduate student)
  • asked her to marry him
  • they were married by an Episcopalian minister in Boston
  • unsuspected, long repressed appetite for sensual pleasure
  • relaxed, confident, happy
  • learned to drive Hilary's Chevrolet Impala
  • sailed back to England (Hilary pregnant)
  • three years later: second child came and third was on the way
  • large, damp and draughty Victorian villa
  • sexual life is neglected
  • is glad that he can escape from his normal life (no responsibility for family every day)
  • rents an apartment high up on Pythagoras Drive (which slides down the hill after every earthquake)
  • Melany Byrd lives with two other girls in the apartment under Phil



University Life and Academical System

Euphoric State University

  • a long existing scheme for the exchange of visiting teachers
  • in California
  • lavish provision of laboratories, libraries
  • not too diffucult to obtain a bachelor's degree
  • students are left very much to their own devices
  • necessary credits are accumulated at free time
  • cheating at school is easy
  • pressure at schhol begins at postgraduate level
  • students have time for sports, alcohol, entertainment, opposite sex
  • campus with itsw hite buildings, bosky paths, its campanile and plaza, its lecture rooms, stadia and laboratories


Rummidge

  • a long existing scheme for the exchange of visiting teachers
  • in the English Midlands
  • pressure is much bigger than in the US
  • student is lonely, forlorn, uncertain

Life in the USA vs. Life in Britain

USA

  • sunny weather
  • cold beer
  • heated open-air swimming pools
  • multi-flavoured ice-cream
  • violent and melodramatic land
  • divisions of race and ideology
  • traumatized by political assassinations
  • campuses in revolt
  • cities seizing up
  • countryside poisoned and devastated
  • Phil has a nice ambience around his flat and a nice view (nature, sea; p.56)

Britain

  • rain
  • Morris' view is not as beautiful (dank back gardens, ill-looking trees, grimy roofs, factory chimneys; p.57)


The End of Backpacking?

Translation

Landkarten des 13. Jahrhunderts zeigten genau den Weg nach Paradis, eine Insel östlich von Indien, die so unerreichbar ist, dass niemand beweisen kann, dass sie ein Mythos ist. Die Zielorte, die mittelalterliche Gelehrte in die Mappa Mundi eintrugen, erscheinen dem modernen Reisenden lächerlich bieder. Trotzdem setzen wir mehr denn je unsere naive Suche nach dem idealen und verlorenen Paradis fort. Heute, als die Bibel Lonely Planet der Rucksacktouristen ihren 30. Geburtstag feiert, war das Streben nach Abenteuer nie weiter verbreitet. Exotische Ziele, die für eine durchschnittliche Familie der 70er Jahre unerreichbar waren, sind nun einfach zu erreichen. Ursprünglich war der Führer ein Steuermann für den vermögenslosen und waghalsigen Jungen - eine Antithese zu dem Luxus der conservativeren Ferien. Trotzdem führte der berühmte Reiseführer Lonely Planet den Weg zum Massenmarkt, durch das Öffnen solch entfernter Ziele. Die Autoren waren hatten Glück genug, in einer Zeit, in der sich der Ferienmarkt dramatisch änderte, voller Inspiration zu sein.

unknown words from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ :

Definition of UNSOPHISTICATED - not changed or corrupted : genuine - not worldly-wise : lacking social or economic sophistication - lacking complexity of structure : simple, straightforward

Definition of HELMSMAN - the person at the helm : steersman

Definition of AUDACIOUS - intrepidly daring : adventurous <an audacious mountain climber>




About Me

  • Name: Sarah
  • age: 18
  • City: Haßfurt
  • LK's: English & French

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