British author and critic David Lodge, who published more than two dozen books as well as TV scripts and plays, died January 3, the Guardian reported. He was 89. Lodge was shortlisted for the Booker Prize twice, first for Small World (1984) and later for Nice Work (1988), the final novels in his celebrated Campus trilogy.
After graduating from University College London, Lodge entered national service for two years, an experience that inspired his second novel, Ginger, You're Barmy (1962). His first, The Picturegoers, was released in 1962, the same year he began teaching in the department of English at the University of Birmingham, where he worked until 1987. The university was the model for the fictional Midlands university of Rummidge, where his Campus trilogy was set, beginning with Changing Places: A Tale of Two Campuses (1975).
Lodge's other novels include The British Museum Is Falling Down, Out of the Shelter, How Far Can You Go?, Paradise News, and Therapy. His critical works include The Art of Fiction, Consciousness and the Novel, and The Practice of Writing. He also wrote the memoirs Quite a Good Time to Be Born, Writer's Luck, and Varying Degrees of Success.
Lodge was appointed a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1997 and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1998. In 1976, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
In a tribute to Lodge, author Jonathan Coe wrote in the Guardian: "It's largely thanks to him, however, that the British comic novel remains in such good health.... It was precisely this eye for the absurd that made Lodge not just one of the funniest but--much more importantly--one of the most truthful of postwar British novelists."
Lodge's publishers, Harvill Secker and Vintage Books UK, said they were "deeply saddened" by his death, writing, according to the Bookseller, "He inspired great affection in those who were lucky enough to work on his books and his dedication to the world of writing was unwavering and profound. His death is an enormous loss to all of us at Penguin Random House and to British letters.... David's career was one of international success and literary influence, in the realms of both fiction and nonfiction."
Liz Foley, Lodge's publisher, noted that his contribution to literary culture "was immense, both in his criticism and through his masterful and iconic novels which have already become classics."
Long-time editor Geoff Mulligan added that Lodge's work "appealed across the generations. He was touched when a student at a reading in Belfast announced that she loved his work, but then so did her mother and grandfather. For someone of his enormous achievements as an academic, novelist, playwright and script writer, he was always modest, kind, generous and a delight to be with."
Jonny Geller, his literary agent, observed: "His social commentary, meditations on mortality and laugh-out-loud observations make him a worthy addition to the pantheon of great English comic writers that links him to Wodehouse, Waugh, Amis and others."