Thank you - I've just read Stoner on your recommendation here, and it moved me much more than I expected. A great book, and unlike anything I've ever read before.
I highly recommend The Hungry Ghosts, not a novel but a book of linked short stories by Joyce Carol Oates. I think it's brillaint but I am prejudiced because it was written (mostly) about the Englsh department at the University of Windsor, my alma mater
There’s something about the campus novel that appeals to me too.
My all-time favourite is the Secret History by Donna Tartt, and a more recent addition is the Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach.
Two very different books which each capture a side to college life.
Surprised not to see “The History Man” by Malcolm Bradbury (but I skimmed your criteria).
Excellent novel. Scathing, really.
"This would never happen at Harvard or anywhere else."
Unfortunately, I'm aware of this happening more than once at the college where I work.
Really? I'm honestly shocked. It's such a violation of any sensible standard of fair grading.
It's envy all the way down!
"Straight Man" is such an amazing novel! I've read it three times.
(I was in grad school for many years, and my partner was a professor at Carnegie Mellon, so we have first-hand experience.)
Thanks! I see other readers are adding their favorite campus novels; I'd add to the list Pale Fire, by Nabokov.
I was going to add Pale Fire to the list. Glad to see someone else was "on the same page."
Pale FIre just popped up on a Blade Runner 2049 film analysis. OK, here I go...
I loved "The Mind Body Problem", by Rebecca Goldstein.
The Art of Fielding and The Secret History would both be on my list.
Thank you - I've just read Stoner on your recommendation here, and it moved me much more than I expected. A great book, and unlike anything I've ever read before.
I mistakenly ordered another “The Campus Trilogy”:
https://www.amazon.com/The-Campus-Trilogy/dp/1907605037
A good read about greed, envy, at a fictitious English university.
Oh, and a university administrator named Sloth.
… greed and envy at a …
Another good one is End Zone, by Don Delillo, which I'd argue counts as a campus novel.
That's the list I needed and never knew I did. Surprised not to see Delillo's White Noise!
I've only read The Human Stain from that list. I sure do like a well chosen list of non-new-releases though...*Blows dust off library card...*
I feel like the tennis academy in Infinite Jest is meant to be an academic institution (but you may not be a fan...)
I highly recommend The Hungry Ghosts, not a novel but a book of linked short stories by Joyce Carol Oates. I think it's brillaint but I am prejudiced because it was written (mostly) about the Englsh department at the University of Windsor, my alma mater
This is a good reminder for me to finally read Straight Man. I've read so many of his books and this one is my husband's favorite!
I'd add Robertson Davies' The Rebel Angels, part of a trilogy.