''How Far Can You Go?'' (1980) is a novel by British writer and academic David Lodge. It was renamed ''Souls and Bodies'' when published in the United States. It won the

Whitbread Book of the Year The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then ...

award (1980), and went straight into paperback in

Penguin Books Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...

in 1981.

Plot summary

The book deals with the intersecting lives of a group of English

Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

from their years as students at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

in the early 1950s up to the late 1970s. The characters are confronted with a wide range of issues and experiences including marriage, contraception, adultery, illness, grief and, most important of all, the changes in the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

brought about by the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...

and the papal

encyclical An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Roman Church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop. The word comes from the Late Latin (originally fr ...

against contraception, ''

Humanae vitae (Latin, meaning 'Of Human Life') is an encyclical written by Pope Paul VI and dated 25 July 1968. The text was issued at a Vatican press conference on 29 July. Subtitled ''On the Regulation of Birth'', it re-affirmed the teaching of the Catho ...

'' (1968). The title's meaning is twofold: it is on the one hand a reference to how far you ought to go with a member of the other sex before marriage, but also to the question of disorientation in the face of abrupt changes in the Church within only a few years.

Major themes

The novel is a bitterly funny satire on life for young English Catholics in the 1950s and 1960s, depicting them juggling the pressures of youth, sexual desire and the modern world with rigid rules about the avoidance of pleasures, the shame of disappointing Christ and the Virgin, and the fear of hell. Yet it also describes how the loss of faith leads to disorientation and sadness in the characters.

Cover Image

As explained in the novel "The name of the game was Salvation, the object to get to heaven and avoid Hell." It was like

Snakes and Ladders Snakes and ladders is a board game for two or more Player (game), players regarded today as a worldwide classic. The game Traditional games of India, originated in ancient India as ''Moksha Patam'', and was brought to the United Kingdom in the ...

: sin sent you plummeting down towards the Pit; the

sacraments A sacrament is a Christian rite which is recognized as being particularly important and significant. There are various views on the existence, number and meaning of such rites. Many Christians consider the sacraments to be a visible symbol of ...

, good deeds, acts of

self-mortification Self-mortification may refer to: Voluntary pain or privation to oneself * in religious practice generally, mortification of the flesh **Mortification (theology) ** Mortification in Catholic theology Involuntary * Sometimes used interchangeably wi ...

, enabled you to climb back towards the light."

References

{{David Lodge 1980 British novels Novels by David Lodge (author) Costa Book Award–winning works Catholic novels Secker & Warburg books