Small World 1

Question 1: The Prologue) Lodge is clearly setting the reader up for a kind of satirical work. The themes of the prologue sharply contrast the image of “self-improvement” or hard work and the less-idealistic reality that is often underneath: “Not all conferences are happy, hedonistic occasions; not all conference venues are luxurious and picturesque; not all Aprils, for that matter, are marked by sweet showers and dulcet breezes.” This juxtaposition is farther enhanced in Part 1, when Persse states, “April is the cruelest month” (3). Lodge also uses Geoffrey Chaucer to enhance this theme. Many (though not all) of the characters in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (the Merchant, for example, epitomizes this theme of a pleasant exterior contrasting with a manipulative, immoral interior. One juxtaposition that Lodge is expressing in the opening paragraphs is the appearance of academic betterment and the ‘underlying agenda’ of contemporary literary conferences. When he speaks of these conferences, he mentions building relationships, gossiping, eating, drinking, sightseeing, and making merry. He only mentions the ‘supposed’ purpose of these conferences – the presenting of papers – as an excuse to indulge in all of the former benefits of these modern “pilgrimages.” Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales is regarded as one of the few literary works from the medieval ages that may paint of us, the modern reader, an image of medieval society, and it is towards the juxtaposition between appearance and reality seen in many of Chaucer’s character’s here that Lodge is drawing a parallel to. However, not all of the characters in The Canterbury Tales are ‘two-faced’ in this respect. One cannot say that all pilgrimages were made without noble intent, or that all members of a literary conference care more about gossip than literature. This is why I think it is important that Lodge ends the prologue with a repetition of the phrase “not all,” as it gets across the idea of a misconception of self-betterment and literary prowess while not being an overly generalized statement. This draws attention directly back to The Story of the Grail, in which ideal knights were far and few between even thought there were a developed standard. Lodge prepares the reader for a character that lives in the framework of a misconception of literary prowess, just as Percival lived in the framework of a misconception of knighthood.

Question 3: Conference Settings) One thing that stuck out at me was that Lodge peppers the description of the university with words that express a hurried sense of time (“a building hastily erected in 1969… and now, only ten years later”; “the traces of posters hurriedly removed”), and stresses the use of depressing or glum adjectives to describe the people and the setting (“slumped in the raked rows of seats”; “dismay had been already plainly written on many faces”; “glumly unpacked their suitcases”; “springs sagged dejectedly in the middle”). This creates the idea of a place and time significantly less reputable than what is once was or could have been (this again relates back to the theme of false or disappointing perceptions as seen with the concept of knighthood in The Story of the Grail). Lodge also creates a setting that feels compact and prison-like, filling the reader with a sense of impending escape (“cracked and pitted walls”; “little privacy”). Dr Rupert Sutcliffe clearly represents what Lodge would call the realists’ version of the conferences. This contrasts greatly with Perceval’s first encounter with an ‘esteemed’ character in The Story of the Grail, in which the knights were built up, in Perceval’s mind, to be angelic creatures.

Question 4: Angelica) Lodge is clearly mocking the stereotypical role of a female love interest in the way that he first presents Angelica (a name he undoubtedly chose for its otherworldly, angelic connotations). As Chretien did with all of the female love interests in his story, Lodge describes only Angelica’s physical attributes, and goes to a point of parodying the angelic grace that she is meant to emanate for Persse: “At that moment the knots of chatting conferees seemed to loosen and part, as if by some magical impulsion, opening up an avenue between Persse and the doorway. Thus, hesitating on the threshold was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen in his life.” He mentions her “womanly figure,” her dark skin, hair, and eyes, her lips, and her posture, leaving it up to Angelica herself to point out the treatment of women versus men in this setting: “If you use initials in the academic world, people think you’re a man and take you more seriously.” I also think it is interesting that her root are a mystery, her being an adopted child, further disassociating Angelica from a tangible world that Persse can relate to on a common level.