Author: Karin Kodadová

AN ANALYSIS OF DAVID LODGE‘S – CHANGING PLACES:

Changing Places is the first volume of David Lodge’s campus novel trilogy. The novel could be
referred to as “semi-autobiographical”, as the author himself states that:

“Each of my novels corresponds to a particular phase or aspect of my own life: for

(https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/david-lodge)

A novel that to this day remains a milestone in the genre of campus novels. “A genre defined by Chris
Baldick in The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms (1990) as:

…a genre of a novel, usually comic or satiric, in which the action is set within the enclosed world of
university (or similar seat of learning) and highlights the follies of academic life.” (1)

The genre started to develop in the 50’s and Lodge is considered one of the genre’s most significant
authors.

Only in the 70’s did the genre began to get involved in the political turmoil of the late 60’s and
developed into a genre that gives the answers to the society, essentially young people, who were
trying to find their lost identity in the post-war period. The same goes for this book.

As the title of the book already suggests, the story deals with change(s), but not only the obvious
exchange of the two main characters of the book. Through the duplex chronicle of the two
professors changing places, and gradually changing their personalities, the author reflects the social
and cultural transformation of the two countries (USA, Great Britain) in the period of revolt and
rediscovery, the storming 60’s.

The novel’s subtitle is a literary pun of Charles Dickens‟ A Tale of Two Cities.” “The opening
Statement of Dickens work shows us the reason why Lodge uses such a pun in his novel:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of
foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it
was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had
everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all
going direct the other way… “(ÇELĠK, 2009, p.17)
Author: Karin Kodadová

Lodge’s choice of reference is supposed to enhance the sense of restlessness present in Changing
Places and a chaos of the period described in the book.

THE BEGINNING

At the beginning of the story, set in 1969, the author sets us on two planes, as the two professors are
on their way, each to the other one’s homeland. Planes could symbolize freedom, new possibilities, a
new life as a contrast to the, now in decline means of transport, train, a symbol of the industrial
revolution – the past.

On the two separate planes, and later in the story, we are given a full overview of the two professor’s
personalities, which as we gradually figure out, are to depict the stereotypes of the two countries
and the school systems of these countries.

Philip Swallow a conservative middle-aged man, conscientious, has a traditional family, lacks
creativity and ambition.

Morris Zapp a self-indulgent, unapologetic, competitive and ambitious man is getting divorced.

The description of both the professors and the school systems of the countries in the book is very
apt:

“This is called the Finals, the very name of which implies that nothing of importance can happen after
it. The British postgraduate student is a lonely, forlorn soul, uncertain of what he is doing or whom
he is trying to please…” (Lodge, 1978, p:16)

“In this respect both men were characteristic of the educational systems they had passed through. In
America it is not too difficult to obtain a bachelor’s degree. The student is left very much to his own
devices, he accumulates the necessary credits at his leisure, cheating is easy, and there is not much
suspense or anxiety about the eventual outcome. He (or she) is therefore free to give full attention to
the normal interests of late adolescence – sport, alcohol, entertainment and the opposite sex.”
(Lodge, 1978, p:15)

The author builds the story upon contrasts to enhance the major differences between the two
countries and the two professors. This phenomenon is also present in the second chapter “Settling”
where we get a closer look at the perception of the two countries the professors have settled in.

“…skimming along the Shoreline Freeway, … to the city’s dramatic skyline…green slopes of Miranda
Country, celebrated for its redwood forests and spectacular seacoast…. The harmony he perceived in
the scene was, he knew, illusory. Just out of sight to his left a pall of smoke hung over the great
military and industrial port of Ashland… The Bay, which winked so prettily in the morning sun, was,
according to Charles Boon and other sources, poisoned by industrial waste and untreated effluent,
and was being steadily contracted by unscrupulous dumping and filling.” (Lodge, 1978, p:56)

“…a vista of dank back gardens, rotting sheds and dripping laundry, huge, ill-looking trees, grimly
roofs, factory chimneys and church spires – but he had discarded this criterion at a very early stage of
looking for furnished accommodation in Rummidge.” (Lodge, 1978, p:57)
Author: Karin Kodadová

As Swallow arrives at the University of Euphoria, there’s a bomb incident. The bomb is a symbol of a
drastic change in the USA. The USA became a land of revolution, racial division and violence. The
bomb symbolizes the rise of campus revolts: rise of the Hippies and their protests against Vietnam
(war) and Ronald Reagan, rise of the Black Panthers and the rise of the women liberation groups.

The first two chapters are compiled as classic novel texts, in these an omniscient narrator occurs.

The third chapter “Corresponding” is compiled as an epistolary novel, although “surely nobody´s
done that since the eighteenth century” (Lodge 1978: 130). This composition accelerates the
storyline, adds a new perspective and suspense to the story and reminds, both the professors and
the reader, of the forgotten past and true identity.

Religious references are used throughout the book, but most notably when depicting the two main
character’s changing personalities. Supposedly used by the (British) author as a reminder of the fact,
that the British are conservative and devout, therefore unwilling to undergo a change, start a
revolution and not very keen on the idea of liberating cults, such as Hippies.

For instance, at one point the author refers to Swallow’s home in the USA as “Sodom and
Gomorrah”.

“The landslip had swept away a whole Sodom and Gomorrah of private fantasies and unacted
desires.” (Lodge, 1978, p:180)

Moreover, there is a conspicuous resemblance and a notion, that Mary Makepeace could represent
Virgin Mary. First of all, for the reason that Philip refers to Mary Makepeace as:” an illegal
immigrant” (Lodge, 1978, p:141). Second of all, she conceived a child with a priest and is now on
escape, therefore seeks a refuge, eventually provided by Morris (who asks Hillary for help), who is in
this light portrayed as a saint and saviour.

The compilation of newspaper articles in the fourth chapter “Reading”, helps us get an idea of the
simultaneous development in the two countries:”…one lost, the other powerless to be born.”( Lodge,
1978, p:174) This chapter shows us, how the Student revolution started to spread across, and how
the “change” is slowly, but surely making its way to Rummidge as well.

“MILITANT STUDENTS OCCUPY RUMMIDGE UNIVERSITY ASSEMBLY HALL” (Lodge, 1978, p:156)

And yet another religious reference appears, when the People’s Garden is referred to as:” A new
Eden…” (Lodge, 1978, p:155). With the police and students fighting over an “immaculate “piece of
land, the Garden is transformed into a warzone. The Garden (capital G) represent a small version of
Author: Karin Kodadová

the Vietnam war. Therefore, the Garden depicts the transformation of the US into a violent land of
revolution and debauchery.

In the last chapter the author switches to a film medium. By choosing this particular medium, the
author points out the remarkable influence of the American on the British (respectively the rest of
the world), since the US is a pioneer in the movie industry. The excerpt, where Philip is talking about
the generation gap between his age group and the youth, students, shows exactly why Lodge has
chosen such a medium:

“Well, the novel is dying, and us with it. No wonder I could never get anything out of my novel-
writing class at Euphoric State. It’s an unnatural medium for their experience. Those kids (gestures at
screen) are living a film, not a novel.” (Lodge, 1978, p:250)

"Lodge himself is an experienced novelist, a critic, and literary theorist of distinction, and Changing
Places reflects his fascination with narrative theory and its binaries." (Showalter, 2005, p.77.)”

Therefore, also the composition of this book is very diverse, beginning as a traditional novel
continuing as an epistolary novel, then a collage of newspaper articles and ending as a drama text.

The story, thanks to its unusual composition, develops at a break-neck speed and what I found
absolutely exhilarating about the book is, that instead of an explosive climax and the satisfaction
from the resolution of the storyline’s twist, the reader is left in the middle of a shot.

“Philip shrugs. The camera stops, freezing him in mid-gesture” (Lodge, 1978, p:251).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

PRIMARY SOURCES:

Lodge, David. Changing Places: A Tale of Two Campuses. Great Britain: Penguin
Books, 1978
SECONDARY SOURCES:

1. Padhi, Prasanta Kumar. Indian Campus Novels: An Emerging Genre in Literary Writing,2017
2. ÇELĠK, Sevinç. An Analysis of David Lodge’s Changing Places a Tale of Two Campuses and
Small World, 2009
3. Showalter, Elaine. Faculty Towers: the academic novel and its discontents. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2005.
4. Baldick, Chris, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms, Oxford University Press Inc.,
New York, 2001.