Sunday, August 3, 2008

New comic novel focuses on deafness

British novelist David Lodge

The Toronto Globe and Mail in Canada has a review of the new David Lodge novel, Deaf Sentence, which says, "Lodge has written a comic novel about deafness. And it is comic, though Lodge uses his humour to sugar-coat what is also a touching story about a man living with a disability that makes him annoying, or at best pathetic, to most people."

Lodge, who was a professor of English at the University of Birmingham in the UK, is best known for his humorous novels that skewer academia such as Changing Places and Small World.

The Globe and Mail notes that Lodge once again writes about experiences familier to him: "Like his protagonist Desmond Bates, Lodge started losing his hearing while teaching at a university in his late40s. Both men are now dependent on hearing aids."

Deaf Sentence is currently available in the UK and will be available in the USA Sept. 18.