To establish his credentials he must also ensure the publication of his first scholarly article, but he eventually discovers that the editor to whom he submitted it has translated it into Italian and passed it off as his own. He and Jim share the same contempt for people in general, and Bill... © 2020 Shmoop University Inc | All Rights Reserved | Privacy | Legal. Dixon struggles with an on-again off-again "girlfriend", Margaret Peel, a fellow lecturer who is recovering from a suicide attempt in the wake of a broken relationship with another man. Miss O'Shaughnessy, Miss McCorquodale, and Miss ap Rhys are the three prettiest female students in the history department. Complete List of Characters in Kingsley Amis's Lucky Jim. Dixon's growing closeness to Christine upsets Bertrand, who is using her to reach her well-connected Scottish uncle and get a job from him. Mrs. Welch accompanies the musical parties held at her house on the piano. Intolerant of the pretension and hypocrisy of the college's faculty and their families, Jim hides his contempt, channeling it into venomous mental outbursts and a wide array of nasty faces. Miss Cutler runs the boardinghouse that Dixon lives in. Minor Characters Bill Atkinson. Dixon considers Carol to be an ally of his, as she is good at turning people's statements back on them and speaks frankly. Lucky Jim Character List. Read an By Kingsley Amis. Read an "[9], Olivia Laing, writing in The Guardian: "Remarkable for its relentless skewering of artifice and pretension, Lucky Jim also contains some of the finest comic set pieces in the language. He is an absent-minded man who rambles on about old English music, the recorder, and children's artwork, not noticing whether or not his audience cares. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own. Caton never actually appears in the novel, but does speak to Dixon over the phone. Bertrand lives in London, where he has begun a career as a painter. in-depth analysis of Margaret Peel. There he learns from her that she is leaving Bertrand after being told that he was having an affair with the wife of one of Dixon's former colleagues. Print Word PDF. By Kingsley Amis. It was Amis's first novel and won the 1955 Somerset Maugham Award for fiction. Margaret Peel holds a slightly higher post than Jim Dixon at the same college. in-depth analysis of Christine Callaghan. [1] Lucky Jim is dedicated to Larkin, who helped to inspire the main character and contributed significantly to the structure of the novel. The narrative of Lucky Jim centers on the thoughts and feelings of Jim Dixon, an unremarkable young man about to complete his first year as an assistant lecturer in the Department of History at a provincial college in Britain. Jim Dixon. By entering your email address you agree to receive emails from Shmoop and verify that you are over the age of 13. Christopher Hitchens described it as the funniest book of the second half of the 20th century, writing: "Lucky Jim illustrates a crucial human difference between the little guy and the small man. Detailed analysis of Characters in Kingsley Amis's Lucky Jim. Dixon admires Atkinson for the power and style of Atkinson's contempt for pretty much everything around him. JavaScript seems to be disabled in your browser. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. Keith Barron starred in Further Adventures of Lucky Jim, a 1967 seven-episode BBC TV series based on the character and set in the "swinging London" of 1967. He is particularly interested in Dixon's special subject course, to be taught in the next year. Minor Characters in Lucky Jim. Lucky Jim is a novel by Kingsley Amis, first published in 1954 by Victor Gollancz. After a bad start Dixon realises that he is attracted to Christine, who is far less pretentious than she initially appears. Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. She takes advantage of Dixon's good-natured concern for her to keep him in a relationship, and even fakes a suicide attempt to attract the concern of either Dixon or Catchpole. Professor Barclay is a Professor of Music at the college. Related Questions and Answers for Characters in Lucky Jim. Lucky Jim ; Characters; Study Guide. Lucky Jim is a novel by Kingsley Amis, first published in 1954 by Victor Gollancz.It was Amis's first novel and won the 1955 Somerset Maugham Award for fiction. Bill Atkinson is an insurance salesman who lives in Dixon's house and is a drinking friend of Dixon's. Barclay's biggest appearance in the novel comes when Dixon steals the taxi the Professor Barclay and his wife have called to take them home from the Summer Ball. Later Dixon meets Margaret's ex-boyfriend, who reveals that he had not been her fiancé, as she had claimed. Caton is a shady academic who accepts Dixon's article for his new academic journal, then steals it and publishes it in Italian under his own name, winning him a position as a department chair at a university in Argentina. Despite his flaws, it's hard not to like good ol' Jim Dixon. In 2003, ITV aired a remake of Lucky Jim with Stephen Tompkinson playing the central character. Miss O'Shaughnessy is Michie's girlfriend. Professor Welch seems to have been holding his job for quite some time. After all, who among us would really... Margaret Peel, "small, thin, and bespectacled" (2.1), might be the saddest character in this... Christine's the beautiful object of our hero's attention. Welch is certainly not malicious, but he is an extremely bad driver due his general lack of awareness to things around him. Evan Johns lives in Dixon's house and is a staff member at the college.