How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"And you see, Faulkner, it's rather important to you that it should turn out to be worth something, if you see what I mean." (1.49)
First of all, Welch can't even get Jim's last name right half the time, which shows you how committed this guy is to his colleagues. One junior lecturer is the same as the next to him. Second, he's basically telling Jim here that if Jim doesn't get his article published, he can kiss his career goodbye. It's the old publish or perish situation, and it's not just a cliché.
Quote #5
These facts had been there for all to read in the Acknowledgements, but Dixon, whose policy it was to read as little as possible of any given book, never bothered with these. (1.50)
The book could have been called Lazy Jim. He seems bent on doing the bare minimum at all times.
Quote #6
So far, Dixon's efforts on behalf of his special subject, apart from thinking how much he hated it, had been confined to aiming to secure for it the three prettiest girls in the class, one of whom was Michie's girl, while excluding from it Michie himself. (3.8)
Here's another example of Jim's contemptuous attitude toward academic pursuits. It strikes us as a little surprising that, even though Michie seems very serious about his studies, Amis doesn't make him a particularly unsympathetic character—a little odd and annoying, maybe, but decent to Jim in the end.