Kingsley Amis

Lucky Jim is a comic novel written by Kingsley Amis, first published in 1954. It was his first novel, and won the Somerset Maugham Award for fiction. Set sometime around 1950, Lucky Jim follows the exploits of the titular protagonist James Dixon, a reluctant history lecturer at a provincial English university (inspired in part by the University of Leicester). The novel exemplifies the use of a precise but plain-spoken narrative voice.