Abstract

The paper will focus on two novels of David Lodge’s trilogy, namely Changing Places. A Tale of Two Campuses and Small World. An Academic Romance. During the 1970’s the university life was profusely sponsored by the state. Consequently, academics travelled extensively and improved their professional expertise by leading tumultuous lives. Thus, the latest theories were intertwined with empirical experiments in hedonistic enterprises. The academic rivalries used to be appeased by parallel satisfactions. The legends of the Holy Grail, the Arthurian Cycle, and the Green Knight constituted ferments of a hermeneutics of fertility imbued with post-structuralist relativization. Interculturality received political implications and, in this way, professors had to assume a social standing. This involvement secured their status of authentic intellectuals, beyond the ivory tower. The research resorts to diverse studies on the campus novel. The main scholars to be quoted are Chris Baldick, Catherine Belsey, Eva Lambertsson Björk, and Elaine Showalter.