Just curious, where does something like David Lodge's _Small World_ fit in the twisted hydra serpent of academic hate mongering, healthy internal good humor, and unhealthy self-loathing triggered or not by academic hate mongering? Has the Times et al made so many pale journalistic imitations of Lodge's novel that we don't like it anymore?

Healthy internal good humor in my book, and I still like it a lot. His most recent one though, _Thinks_, left me kind of cold.

Lodge pokes and prods, and sometimes he hits a sore point, but it's pretty clear that he still cherishes the academy as an institution. Maybe that's the difference.