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The Rhythm Method is the curse of young Adam Appleby’s life and the cause of his children’s. While Adam gestates his thesis in the British Museum, his wife worries at home because her period is late and a fourth little bundle of (expensive) joy seems to be on the way, thanks to ‘Vatican Roulette’. Though Adam’s experience is constantly coloured by the authors he is studying, one distinction remains clear: ‘Literature is mostly about having sex, and not much about having children. Life is the other way round.’ A sharply perceptive comic novel, ‘London Bridge is Falling Down’ brilliantly captures the absurd, pitiful dilemma of Catholics in the days when the Pill was just an enticing rumour.

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。