Deaf Sentence
ABOUT
THE BOOK
When the university merged his Department of English with Linguistics, Professor Desmond Bates took early retirement, but he is not enjoying it. He misses the routine of the academic year and has lost his appetite for research. His wife Winifred’s late-flowering career goes from strength to strength, reducing his role to that of escort, while the rejuvenation of her appearance makes him uneasily conscious of the age gap between them. The monotony of his days is relieved only by wearisome journeys to London to check on his aged father who stubbornly refuses to leave the house he is patently unable to live in with safety.
But these discontents are nothing compared to the affliction of hearing loss — a constant source of domestic friction and social embarrassment, leading Desmond into mistakes, misunderstandings and follies. It might be comic for others, but for the deaf person himself, it is no joke. It is his deafness which inadvertently involves Desmond with a young woman whose wayward behaviour threatens to destabilize his life completely.
NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS
Another brilliant read from one of the modern masters of the novel. Beautifully written and full of humour albeit of a dark tone.
Psychologically insightful artistic revelation of human lot in the form of inner monologue of the protagonist who is loosing his hearing.
Desmond Bates has prematurely quit his valued job as a professor of Applied Linguistics as a result of his deafness. He constantly misinterprets people’s words which Lodge (a fellow sufferer of deafness) utilizes to create an entertaining and funny narrative. Bates becomes embroiled in a sticky situation with beautiful, manipulative America student Alex Loom whose intentions are anything but academic and this contributes to creating a novel which is both amusing and very poignant.