A Literary and Catholic Discourse on David Lodge's novels 'The British Museum is Falling Down' and 'How far can you go?'

Pre-University Paper from the year 2020 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1, , language: English, abstract: The art of literature has many faces. One of it is David Lodge, a British author and literary critic. With his literary work he explores society and culture as well as religion. It is the aim of this pre-academic work to analyse and compare two of his earlier novels: 'The British Museum is Falling Down' (1965) and 'How far can you go?' (1980). As a first step, the biographical background of David Lodge with a special focus on faith is examined. Moreover, it is clarified why he can be called a 'Catholic novelist'. It is depicted how he has developed as a 'Catholic novelist'. Secondly, this work concentrates on the analysis of the two novels. Aspects of 'The British Museum is Falling Down', which are central to Lodge's literature, are analysed. Notably: Realism, Intertextuality and Catholic aspects. Furthermore, the same crucial aspects of 'How far can you go?' are analysed, focusing on Catholic context. As a final step, the two novels are compared in a literary and Catholic context. Considering the elaborated aspects of the two novels ideas are established of how Catholic society has developed and how it has rebelled against the Church over the time.