Middle-class respectability prevails, the schools are reassuringly private and well-heeled professionals abound. Just don't look behind the bushes, warns Roger Wilkes of the Daily Telegraph
People flock to Dulwich for three reasons: education, education, education
Why write about Dulwich?
Like other middle-class, south London suburbs, it represents a familiar domestic universe. The novel's hero, raunchy TV critic Frank Ritz, is thrown out of his whitewashed cottage on a village green in Dulwich. ("Dulwich! A garden. A wooden fence. Space. Death with a whiff of life in it.") Jacobson may have had in mind a real-life group of cottages overlooking a duckpond in Dulwich Village. It is divided into three parts: to the north is Dulwich Village, the poshest bit; West Dulwich, where property is cheaper; and East Dulwich, favoured by wealthy young trendies with its excellent links to the City.
While Dulwich might not have been Frank Ritz's cracker of a place, it was a favourite with Dickens's Mr Pickwick ("one of the most pleasant spots near London"). Hard-boiled crime novelist Raymond Chandler lived there as a young journalist in the early 20th century, attacking middle-class conformity in his essay Houses To Let, in which he rails against "the paramount bourgeois spirit . . . those clean smug bookcases which seem to cry aloud that they have as little as possible to do with literature or learning." Chandler attended Dulwich College, as did P G Wodehouse, whose ill-advised broadcasts during the Second World War led to calls for his name to be stricken from the school's roll of honour.
There's a cluster of exquisite Georgian houses in Dulwich Village (the best road and very expensive) but the local stock is mostly Edwardian, highly sought-after by families (which is why it is known locally as "Nappy Land").
What's it like in the book?
In the book, Dulwich seems to stand for suburbia incarnate, very different from the traditional Jewish background in Manchester in which Jacobson was brought up. Frank gets out it of as fast as he can, gunning his Saab over the Shepherd's Bush flyover and up the M40 to Oxford, "scrotum as tight as a bag of pennies". He's fleeing from wife Mel, who writes pornographic novels, and with whom he used to enjoy alfresco sex, not always unabashedly: "Jesus Christ, Mel, this is Dulwich Park! We live here!"
When Frank returns to Dulwich from touring his old "shtupping" (love-making) haunts, the house bears no traces of another man, just a bulging brown envelope on the hall table containing Mel's latest juicy pornoscript. "So this is why she's allowed him back; not because she's polished off a lover, but because she's polished off a book. He isn't sure whether he's relieved. What's worse, being in competition with the rest of your sex, or being in competition with literature?"
Has it changed?
No. Jacobson's book was only published in 1998. (It was not critically acclaimed: Germaine Greer peered askance at the novel's priapic preoccupations and called it "an organ concerto which rarely rises to the vox humana".) People flock to Dulwich for three reasons: education, education and education. There are several top private schools including Dulwich College, Alleyn's School and James Allen's Girls' School, and excellent state infant and junior schools. People scramble to be in their catchment areas, and that keeps prices up.
Dulwich may be suburban, but it is a proper village, complete with bookshop, boulangerie, deli, pretty park and even country-style fingerposts. The journey by rail from North Dulwich to London Bridge takes just 12 minutes. Dulwich Picture Gallery, the oldest public art gallery in England, designed by Sir John Soane, opened in 1814.
There's very little for sale in Dulwich Village. That's partly due to a seasonal lull, but mainly because September 11 had a huge impact on the property market hereabouts. "There's a lot of big money around here," explains Caroline Le Gassick, of Spencer Kennedy, "and if the financial markets aren't happy, the property market doesn't move."
Who lives there?
Local celebs include the Governor of the Bank of England, Eddie George. Dulwich attracts hordes of wealthy professionals such as bankers, lawyers and doctors. "If there's anything wrong with you," says one agent, "you can always find a consultant in Dulwich." But many teachers who used to live there have been priced out of the market.
Dulwich Village residents include the Scottish actor Iain Glen, who starred with Nicole Kidman on stage in The Blue Room. In more cosmopolitan (and more affordable) East Dulwich, watch out for TV stars from The Bill and The Thin Blue Line.
Three of a costly kind: on the market in Dulwich
£645,000 Sitting proudly in the Village itself, four bedrooms don't come cheap around here. Harvey & Wheeler (020 8693 4321)
£595,000 The owners of this 1960s log cabin are pioneering in both postcode (SE26) and style. Spencer Kennedy (020 8693 7835).
£750,000 Once known as West Norwood, now it is West Dulwich and prices have risen. Five bedrooms. Volker & Volker (020 8670 8000).
Why write about Dulwich?
Like other middle-class, south London suburbs, it represents a familiar domestic universe. The novel's hero, raunchy TV critic Frank Ritz, is thrown out of his whitewashed cottage on a village green in Dulwich. ("Dulwich! A garden. A wooden fence. Space. Death with a whiff of life in it.") Jacobson may have had in mind a real-life group of cottages overlooking a duckpond in Dulwich Village. It is divided into three parts: to the north is Dulwich Village, the poshest bit; West Dulwich, where property is cheaper; and East Dulwich, favoured by wealthy young trendies with its excellent links to the City.
While Dulwich might not have been Frank Ritz's cracker of a place, it was a favourite with Dickens's Mr Pickwick ("one of the most pleasant spots near London"). Hard-boiled crime novelist Raymond Chandler lived there as a young journalist in the early 20th century, attacking middle-class conformity in his essay Houses To Let, in which he rails against "the paramount bourgeois spirit . . . those clean smug bookcases which seem to cry aloud that they have as little as possible to do with literature or learning." Chandler attended Dulwich College, as did P G Wodehouse, whose ill-advised broadcasts during the Second World War led to calls for his name to be stricken from the school's roll of honour.
There's a cluster of exquisite Georgian houses in Dulwich Village (the best road and very expensive) but the local stock is mostly Edwardian, highly sought-after by families (which is why it is known locally as "Nappy Land").
What's it like in the book?
In the book, Dulwich seems to stand for suburbia incarnate, very different from the traditional Jewish background in Manchester in which Jacobson was brought up. Frank gets out it of as fast as he can, gunning his Saab over the Shepherd's Bush flyover and up the M40 to Oxford, "scrotum as tight as a bag of pennies". He's fleeing from wife Mel, who writes pornographic novels, and with whom he used to enjoy alfresco sex, not always unabashedly: "Jesus Christ, Mel, this is Dulwich Park! We live here!"
When Frank returns to Dulwich from touring his old "shtupping" (love-making) haunts, the house bears no traces of another man, just a bulging brown envelope on the hall table containing Mel's latest juicy pornoscript. "So this is why she's allowed him back; not because she's polished off a lover, but because she's polished off a book. He isn't sure whether he's relieved. What's worse, being in competition with the rest of your sex, or being in competition with literature?"
Has it changed?
No. Jacobson's book was only published in 1998. (It was not critically acclaimed: Germaine Greer peered askance at the novel's priapic preoccupations and called it "an organ concerto which rarely rises to the vox humana".) People flock to Dulwich for three reasons: education, education and education. There are several top private schools including Dulwich College, Alleyn's School and James Allen's Girls' School, and excellent state infant and junior schools. People scramble to be in their catchment areas, and that keeps prices up.
Dulwich may be suburban, but it is a proper village, complete with bookshop, boulangerie, deli, pretty park and even country-style fingerposts. The journey by rail from North Dulwich to London Bridge takes just 12 minutes. Dulwich Picture Gallery, the oldest public art gallery in England, designed by Sir John Soane, opened in 1814.
There's very little for sale in Dulwich Village. That's partly due to a seasonal lull, but mainly because September 11 had a huge impact on the property market hereabouts. "There's a lot of big money around here," explains Caroline Le Gassick, of Spencer Kennedy, "and if the financial markets aren't happy, the property market doesn't move."
Who lives there?
Local celebs include the Governor of the Bank of England, Eddie George. Dulwich attracts hordes of wealthy professionals such as bankers, lawyers and doctors. "If there's anything wrong with you," says one agent, "you can always find a consultant in Dulwich." But many teachers who used to live there have been priced out of the market.
Dulwich Village residents include the Scottish actor Iain Glen, who starred with Nicole Kidman on stage in The Blue Room. In more cosmopolitan (and more affordable) East Dulwich, watch out for TV stars from The Bill and The Thin Blue Line.
Three of a costly kind: on the market in Dulwich
£645,000 Sitting proudly in the Village itself, four bedrooms don't come cheap around here. Harvey & Wheeler (020 8693 4321)
£595,000 The owners of this 1960s log cabin are pioneering in both postcode (SE26) and style. Spencer Kennedy (020 8693 7835).
£750,000 Once known as West Norwood, now it is West Dulwich and prices have risen. Five bedrooms. Volker & Volker (020 8670 8000).
