SPoian - "Nice Work" by D.Lodge

Corrected Version

from Nice Work by David Lodge: Robyn's characterisation

Nice Work is a contemporary novel written by David Lodge and published in 1988. The extract under analysis is taken from Chapter two. Its function is to introduce a new character: Robyn Penrose. She is one of the protagonist of the novel along with Vic Wilcox, who is mentioned at the beginning of the extract.

Robyn Penrose is introduced by a third person omniscient and intrusive narrator, whose presence is visible thanks to comments added between parenthesis. The narrator draws the reader’s attention to characters and settings, the latter is quite unclear.

The character’s introduction relies on different elements and does not follow the rules of a “traditional” introduction (e.g. the introduction is opened by the character’s name or physical description).

First of all, the narrator focuses the attention on the character’s way of thinking. Robyn, who is a character herself, doesn’t believe in the concept of character - Robyn’s idea will be explained in-depth after her introduction.

Secondly, the narrator focuses on the character’s language: an interesting point out that highlights the association between language and thought. In particular, the narrator focuses on her spoken language: the character is shown using one of her most frequent phrases during her lecture – “that is to say”, a typical explanatory expression.

The narrator only later reveals the character’s name: Robyn Penrose. Her first name is a man’s name that recalls the figure of Robyn Hood, but the narrator has already made clear that she is a woman. Her surname is made of two words: “Pen” probably hinting at the character’s job and “rose” that might be a reference to the character’s nature: the reader may suppose Robyn is a nice person who has negative sides, just like a rose is beautiful and has thorns.

“Temporary Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Rummidge” tells the reader of Robyn’s occupation. The “University of Rummidge” is a fictional place created by Lodge for his novel, “Temporary Lecturer” is Robyn’s job, affected by instability. Indeed, economy cuts funds for schools and Universities and Robyn fights to make things better, “English Literature” is the main focus of Robyn’s work as a Lecturer. As the reader will soon discover, she is particularly interested in the industrial novel. Her interest may be justified by her working conditions.

Moving on, the narrator draws the reader’s attention on her body language: Robyn gestures to convey her ideas to the students.

Later in the text, the narrator provides some information about her cultural background and reading interests: “Jacques Derridà is famous to people like Robyn, anyway”.

The reader’s attention is once and again drawn on Robyn’s philosophy. It can be summed up in the quotation “we produce ourselves in language”, which highlights the relevant role of language ad refers to the previous association language-thought.

After providing the basic information about the character’s identity, the narrator goes deep into Robyn’s ideas about characters. She does not believe in the concept of character because characters are a product of capitalism. Such idea raises itself a question being at the same time a parody of what the novelist is still doing: presenting a character that does not believe in that concept. Whether or not the narrator agrees with Robyn’s point of view, the author himself is writing a novel and he is introducing a character who does not believe in characters.

To better focus on the narrator’s position, the reader should consider his comments.

At the beginning of the second paragraph, the narrator reports Robyn’s thoughts using her own words: “Both are expressions of a secularized Protestant ethic, both dependent on the idea of an autonomous individual self who is responsible for and in control of his/her own destiny, seeking happiness and fortune in competition with other autonomous selves.” The sentence is reported without being introduced by a phrase like “Robyn thinks that…”. The following sentence starts with the words “This is true”. The narrator’s judgment suggests that he may agree with her.

Moreover, Robyn’s ideas of a character are conveyed by a strictly logical and rigorous argumentation. The narrator explains the role and function of each piece of information in Robyn’s argumentation.

The character’s introduction is closed in a circle: the reference to Vic Wilcox recalls the beginning of the extract. It is an interesting example of meta-narrative, which is particularly frequent in Postmodern Literature.

At the end the intelligent reader discovers Robin’s philosophy : “semiotic materialism”. She reflects upon the concept of multiple identities (M. Hamid’s Changez provides an interesting example of Postmodern and at the same time Postcolonial narrative). Robyn explains to her students “you are what speaks you”. Robin affirms therefore “we produce our ‘selves’ in language”, that is to say, we are the products of the language we speak and that speaks us.