David Lodge, the English author who satirized academia in his Campus Trilogy of novels, has died at 89, the Guardian reports.

Lodge was born and raised in London and educated at University College London. He made his literary debut in 1960 with The Picturegoers, which explored the experience of Roman Catholics living in London. He followed that up with the novels Ginger You’re Barmy, The British Museum Is Falling Down, and Out of the Shelter.

In 1975, he published Changing Places, about an academic exchange between a British and an American university. The comic novel would become the first book in his Campus Trilogy, followed by Small World in 1984 and Nice Work in 1988; the latter two books were shortlisted for the Booker Prize. His other novels included Paradise News, Therapy, Deaf Sentence, and A Man of Parts.  

Lodge’s admirers paid tribute to him on social media. On the platform X, novelist Richard Osman wrote, “From Waugh to Pym to Frayn to David Lodge, there are few things better than a great British comic novel, with smarts and heart and truth at its core. What a wonderful writer. Do start with the Campus Trilogy if you haven’t read him.”

And critic Joe Williams posted, “RIP David Lodge, one of the few British novelists who managed to combine ideas with pleasure. His excellent Small World, now four decades old, is still a hilarious seminar on literary theory.”

Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.