ANALYSIS OF THE SECOND CHAPTER

In chapter number 2 of his "Nice work" iDavid Lodge ntroduces a character, Robyn Penrose through her beliefs. She thinks that the rise of the novel and therefore the concept of character is strictly linked to the rise of capitalism. Theargumentations for such thesis  are many:  first of all both originated in the eighteenth century, they both triumphed in the nineteenth century and they also had the terminal crisis around the twentieth century.

 What's more they both were  centred on the idea of the individual: the character in the novel and the capitalist in capitalism. They are responsible for their own destiny and they can choose how to carry on their own life. In addition the novelist and the capitalist both produced manufactures, which consumers did not know they wanted until they were  created. It might therefore not be an accident that the greatest English Novelist, Daniel Defoe and Samuel Richardson were a merchant and a printer.

But Robyn does not agree with the previous ideas: she thinks there is no longer a centre or a unique  soul but everything has got a subject position and so is it with the individual .

For the same reason  no author exist as an original one, a creator of a text out of nothing : each text is the product of intertextuality and may be a probable inspiration from other texts. The only way to produce  "selves" is through language and so according to Postmodernism people create their selves in LANGUAGE. postmodernism is based on SUCH  ideas.

Later on  David Lodge carries on by telling Robyn has ordinary human feelings and her life  is similar to anyone else who wants to improve the world.  Typical of Postmodernism is also the narrator's  concentration on Robyn's consciousness and thoughts.
For example the narrator tells about her worries, as soon as she wakes up the first day of the winter term: although she has been teaching for many years she is frightened of delivering a lecture and conducting tutorials.