...well, maybe the last two, but as others, notably Mary McCarthy, in The Groves of Academe have depicted, there seems to be nothing collegial about professional lives purportedly dedicated to the pursuit of higher knowledge. This is the novel that established Kingsley Amis' reputation, and remains his most famous work. Regrettably, rather late in life, it is the first work of his that I have read. If you like your novels with heroic characters, whose actions should serve as a role model for you, or your children, well, this novel is not for you.The story is told from the point of view of Jim Dixon, a junior professor, in his first year at one of the newly opened provincial universities after World War II. He is the proverbial square peg being jammed into a round hole; he is neurotic, dysfunctional and alienated, as are most of the characters. Wartime austerity is slowly loosening its grip; he lives in a boarding house, and counts his cigarettes out, not for health reasons, but rather financial ones. Early on, we are introduced to one of the perennial curses of academic life: the "publish or perish" mantra. Plagiarism is the essential aspect of the denouement to that theme. The exigencies of organizational life, the need to impress one's superiors, and appear to be a good "team player," best expressed by a couple earthy epithets that would never make it past the censor, permeate the tale. Philandering, mainly of the unrequited variety, is also a dominant theme. As in other "drawing room" novels, the sexual and financial dynamics are omnipresent, and one "needs a scorecard to tell who the players are."Amis has a fine ear for dialogue, and utilizes it brilliantly to draw and define his characters. The humor can be laugh out loud (LOL) hilarious. To mention one scene, Dixon is trying to obtain a straight answer for the History Chairmen, Welch, if he will be re-contracted for a second year. Welch bloviates, almost certainly unintentionally, about any subject but... the issue at hand. In another scene, one woman is nominally complimenting another, naturally a potential rival (aren't they all?) but Dixon knows what is coming, so he "...tensed himself for the inevitable qualification... `I don't like women of that age who try to act the gracious lady. Bit of a prig, too.'" One of the women plots to have Dixon "take out" a rival. Is the novel sexist? Well, for sure, the women don't come off very well, and it is the `50's, but the men are certainly portrayed "on an equal opportunity basis," that is, badly.And there is the "trans-Atlantic" issue, and since it is all about "not getting it," perhaps the best way to describe the problem is the French phrase, "je ne sais quoi" quality of British humor. Even when I am playing "at the top of my game," I only seem to "get" about 80% of it, and I remain disconcerted that there is something deep, and intrinsic to the culture of the British Isles that I just don't understand. No doubt this is one of the reasons I found certain sections of the book a bit tedious. Still, there were numerous "takeaways" that shall linger long, from "diuretic coffee," to "aureole of choking nonsense," to "Yes, I know women are all dead keen on marrying men they don't much like."This particular edition has an introduction by David Lodge. Among other matters, he compares the Amis with one of his contemporaries, Graham Greene, and in particular, his novel, The Heart of the Matter: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) It is worth searching for this edition just for Lodge's intro. Overall, a 5-star read, on the way academic life was, in Britain, in the `50's, and probably still is.