Campus Fictions

Campus Fictions argues that the academic novel balances utopian and regressive tendencies, reinforcing the crises we face in higher learning while simultaneously signposting hope for a worn institution. Whether a bestseller such as Erich Segal ’s romance  Love Story  (1970) or wonkier fare such as Don DeLillo’s  White Noise (1985), the academic novel mystifies the academy not only to a wide public but also—worse—to readers who might describe themselves as sympathetic to higher learning. The book takes an eclectic approach to the academic novel with chapters discussing, for example, the genre’s rampant anti-intellectualism and its work refusals, studying novels such as Ishmael Reed’s Japanese by Spring (1993) and Julie Schumacher’s  Dear Committee Members  (2014). The book is also accompanied by the “Directory of the American Campus Novel ” file, which tracks the genre by year, by setting, and by other datapoints that readers might make use of.