"Penguin Decades" bring you the novels that helped shape modern Britain. When they were published, some were bestsellers, some were considered scandalous, and others were simply misunderstood. All represent their time and helped define their generation, while today each is considered a landmark work of storytelling. David Lodge's "The British Museum is Falling Down" was published in 1965 and is a brilliant comic satire of academia, religion and human entanglements. It tells the story of hapless, scooter-riding young research student Adam Appleby, who is trying to write his thesis but is constantly distracted - not least by the fact that, as Catholics in the 1960s, he and his wife must rely on 'Vatican roulette' to avoid a fourth child.

戴维·洛奇（David Lodge,1935- ）,一九三五年在伦敦出生,早年就读于伦敦大学,伯明翰大学博士,英国皇家文学院院士,以文学贡献获得布列颠帝国勋章和法国文艺骑士勋章。从一九六○年起,执教于伯明翰大学英语系,一九八七年退职从事创作,兼伯明翰大学现代英国文学荣誉教授。

洛奇已出版十二部长篇小说,包括“卢密奇学院三部曲”《换位》（Changing Places,一九七五年,获霍桑登奖和约克郡邮报小说大奖）、《小世界》（Small World,一九八四年,获布克奖提名）和《好工作》（Nice Work,一九八八年,获星期日快报年度最佳图书奖和布克奖提名）以及《作者,作者》（Author, Author,二○○四年）等,其中以“卢密奇学院三部曲”最为著名。他还著有《小说的艺术》（The Art of Fiction,一九九二年）和《意识与小说》（Consciousness and the Novel,二○○二年）等文学批评理论文集。洛奇的作品已用二十五种语言翻译出版。文学批评史家安东尼·伯吉斯认为,洛奇是“同代作家中最优秀的小说家之一”。

《小世界》在一九八八年改编为电视连续剧；洛奇本人担任编剧、英国广播公司（BBC）制作的《好工作》,获得一九八九年皇家电视学会最佳电视连续剧奖。