Lucky Jim

Lucky Jim is an academic satire written by Kingsley Amis, first published in 1954 by Victor Gollancz. It was Amis's first published novel, and won the Somerset Maugham Award for fiction. Set sometime around 1950, Lucky Jim follows the exploits of the eponymous James (Jim) Dixon, a reluctant Medieval history lecturer at an unnamed provincial English university (inspired in part by the University of Leicester). The novel uses a precise and seemingly plain-spoken narrative voice.

The title is a reference to a popular music hall drinking song, "Oh Lucky Jim, How I Envy Him". It is supposed that Kingsley Amis arrived at 'Lucky Jim' Dixon's surname from a certain address, 12 Dixon Drive, Leicester - Philip Larkin's address, from 1948 to 1950, and Amis visited him there.

Time magazine included the novel in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005.