Campus - 2
Small World: An Academic Romance (1984) is a humorous "campus novel" by the British writer David Lodge. It is a sequel to Lodge's 1975 novel, Changing Places.
Small World uses the main characters (Professors Philip Swallow and Morris Zapp and their wives) from Changing Places and adds many new ones. It follows them around the international circuit of academic literary conferences. It is highly, and self-reflexively, allusive to quests for the Holy Grail, especially to Spenser's Faerie Queene. Characters discuss the romance and aspects of that genre in a way that comments directly on the action in the book, and an important (but physically and intellectually impotent) literary theorist is named Arthur Kingfisher in direct reference to Arthurian legend and the Fisher King.
This omnibus lines up David Lodge’s trio of brilliantly comic novels that revolve around the University of Rummidge and the lives of its role-swapping academics. When Philip Swallow, lecturer in English at Rummidge, changes places with flamboyant Morris Zapp of Euphoric State University, USA, trouble ensues. (Changing Places)
Then, ten years on, older but not noticeably wiser, they are let loose on the international conference circuit - a veritable academic carnival. (Small World)
And finally, Dr Robyn Penrose becomes part of a scheme to learn about industry instead of reading about it, with hilarious results. David Lodge exposes the dizzy pursuit of knowledge – literary, commercial, romantic and erotic – with unparalleled wit and insight. (Nice Work)