Nice Work
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| Author | David Lodge |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Paul Cox |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Campus novel, Industrial novel |
| Publisher | Secker & Warburg |
| Released | 1988 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover, paperback) |
| Pages | 277 pages (hardcover) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-436-25667-3 |
| Preceded by | Small World: An Academic Romance |
Nice Work (1988) is a novel by British author David Lodge. In 1989 it was made into a four-part BBC television series starring Warren Clarke and Haydn Gwynne. The University of Birmingham served as the filming location of many of the scenes from this series.
The book describes a somewhat contrived failed love story (or at least a story of encounters, for Robyn Penrose - the heroine - posits that love does not exist, there are merely chemicals and nerve reactions) between a feminist university teacher specialising in the industrial novel and women's writing, and Vic Wilcox, the manager of an engineering firm. The relationship that develops between the unlikely pair reveals the weaknesses in each character. Robyn's position is precarious, because of budget cuts. Vic has to deal with industrial politics at his firm.
The plot is a pastiche of the industrial novel genre, particularly referencing 'North and South' by Mrs Gaskell. This gentle ribbing acts to undermine the postmodern and feminist position of Robyn, who accepts the hand of fate despite ridiculing its role as the sole restorative capable of (in the minds of authors of industrial novels) elevating the female to a serious social position. In turn, Vic learns about great literature that he otherwise would never have read.
The story is set in the fictional city of Rummidge, a grey and dismal fictionalised Birmingham. It is part of the same continuity as the novels Changing Places, Small World, and Thinks .... In Nice Work, Philip Swallow is still head of the English Department from Small World and thus is Robyn Penrose's boss. Morris Zapp makes a cameo appearance in the last part of Nice Work, to add a plot twist where he tries to arrange for Robyn to have a job interview at his American university, Euphoric State (a fictionalized UC Berkeley), in order to stop his ex-wife from being a candidate for an open faculty position. Robyn Penrose makes a cameo appearance in Thinks ....
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