Abstract:Kingsley Amis is a famous realistic novelist in the 1950s after the Second World War. He is also one of the representatives of the Angry Young Man. His masterpiece is Lucky Jim. This novel tells a comic story about an educated young man, Jim Dixon, who comes from the lower-middle class and works as a lecturer in a university, struggles to keep his job but fails to put himself in the upper-class which values one’s origin.

My thesis tries to describe and analyze “lightness” and ”heaviness” in Lucky Jim on the basis of Calvino’s idea about the lightness. And this thesis will be divided in three parts: the first chapter will explain Calvino’s idea about the lightness and make a brief introduction to Kingsley Amis and Lucky Jim. The second and third chapters will analyze the “lightness” and “heaviness” in Lucky Jim in detail. Calvino thinks that the “lightness” in one literary work is manifested in three aspects: language, abstraction description and visual images. Following these three hints, this thesis will analyze the elements of lightness and heaviness and discuss the theme of the novel related to these elements. The fourth chapter will illustrate the writing background of Lucky Jim, the social background of England in the 1950s and Kingsley’s opinion on the society, so that a better understanding of the writer’s idea of “lightness” and ”heaviness” in the work will be given.

Keywords: Lucky Jim; lightness and heaviness; Kingsley Amis; Italo Calvino 

Contents

摘要

Abstract

Chapter 1 Introduction-1

1.1 An Introduction to Kingsley Amis and His Lucky Jim-1

1.1.1 Kingsley Amis-1

1.1.2 Lucky Jim-1

1.2 Literature Review-2

1.2.1 Views on Kingsley Amis’s Lucky Jim Abroad-2

1.2.2 Views on Kingsley Amis’s Lucky Jim at Home-3

1.3 Theoretical Perspective-4

1.3.1 The Definition and Function of Lightness and Heaviness-4

1.3.2 Calvino’s Analysis on Lightness and Heaviness-4

1.4 Significance and Feasibility of This Study-5

Chapter 2 Lightness in Lucky Jim-7

2.1 Lightness of the Language-7

2.2 Lightness of Description of Abstraction-7

2.3 Lightness of Images-8

2.4 Lightness of the Characters-9

Chapter 3 Heaviness in Lucky Jim-11

3.1 Heaviness of the Language-11

3.2 Heaviness of the Abstraction Description-11

3.3 Heaviness of Images-12

3.4 Heaviness of the Characters-13

3.5 Reversal of the situation : From Heaviness to Lightness-14

Chapter 4 Behind Those Elements of Lightness and Heaviness in Lucky Jim-15

4.1 Writing Background-15

4.2 The Reflection of Kingsley’s Anger in Lucky Jim-15

4.2.1 Rebels of the Time-15

4.2.2 Cinderella Image-15

Chapter 5 Conclusion-17

Acknowledgments-19

References-21