Academic novels: Denis Johnson and the Academic Novel(la)

Academic Novels

Perhaps it’s a cosmic message delivered through the medium of literature, or just pure coincidence, but of late much of what I am reading relates to the occupation and amusements of academic life. Not an uncommon approach, since many fiction writers too are/were academics themselves, it is nonetheless an intriguing genre in itself to see the academic at odds with the world of fiction, or the writer having to navigate the duplicitous paths of peer-reviewed academia and free flowing fiction. An academic novel, also known as a ‘campus novel’ is regarded by John Lyons as one in which “higher education is treated with seriousness and the main characters are students or professors” (1962: xvii).

Lion and the Hunter

Footnote

Footnote

Footnote (Hebrew: הערת שוליים‎, translit. He'arat Shulayim) is a 2011 Israelidrama film written and directed by Joseph Cedar, starring Shlomo Bar'aba and Lior Ashkenazi. The plot revolves around the troubled relationship between a father and son who teach at the Talmud department of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Wikipedia

Blog: Campus Novel

* University Novel * Academic Novel * College Novel * Campus Novel *: Novel Academic Novels: the Sequel by Ms. Mentor

this blog is meant as a resource for academic teachers, writers, and readers. All about academic fiction and mutations thereof--my next book project and the title of a class I will hopefully teach soon. The raison d'être of setting up this blog is to organize an international study group, a conference, to set up a mailing list, a website, publish a collection of essays etc. about this Anglo-American genre.