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Just catching up with this thread. Brilliant list.
Thumbs up from me as well for Stoner – a simple tale but really quite haunting. I was also glad to be reminded of The End of Mr Y, which I found a bizarre and compelling novel in equal measure. And I really enjoyed that anonymous trilogy – A Campus Conspiracy, etc. I didn’t want to enjoy them, but I did.
Three more for the list:
Mary McCarthy – The Groves of Academe – a classic of the genre, as people like to say
Philip Roth – The Human Stain – political correctness in academe
Joel Quam – Publish or Perish – a campus whodunnit
I’d also like to put in a case for Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance – because at the core of the book is the story of a college professor – and I love his case for abolishing grading right in the middle of the novel.
Dr Jennifer Leigh MA, BSc (Hons), PGCHE, PGCE, SFHEA
Lecturer in Higher Education and Academic Practice, Centre for the Study of Higher Education, UELT, University of Kent, Canterbury, CT2 7NQ [log in to unmask]|+ 44(0)1227 816279
Recent articles:
Experiencing emotion: children’s perceptions, reflections and self-regulation Body, Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy DOI: 10.1080/17432979.2017.1303544 http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/GhakpGBcE4anSGtC3Dan/full
An embodied perspective on judgements of written reflective practice for professional development in HE Reflective Practice Volume 17, Issue 1 pp. 72-85 | DOI: 10.1080/14623943.2015.1123688 http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/kbR7vff6eAMws6US3GsU/full
Some thoughtsA favourite of mine - Connie Willis: Domesday Book (first of her Oxford future Historian time travelling books) - this one has a postgrad student on field trip in medieval England, while in parallel her supervisor and his colleagues are coping with a virus epidemic back at the college, making it hard to get her back (via time machine!). Sounds odd, but it is an excellent read. Some fun stuff about departmental politics, and supervisor responsibilities. The others in the series are great too. Mostly they work independently, although Blackout and All Clear are a pair - you need to read both.
John Williams: Stoner - a modern US classic about an academic life full of small disappointments. To quote the Guardian, who had it as a must read in 2013: “William Stoner, we learn in the book's first paragraph, was a lifelong academic, who entered the University of Missouri as a student in 1910, and went on to teach there until his death in 1956. The value and purpose of academe is a key concern of the novel, while one of its main sequences describes a long and savage piece of departmental infighting”
And a crime novel with an academic protagonist:Elly Griffiths: Crossing Places (Ruth Galloway series) - Ruth is an academic, and there are some interesting insights into the research/teaching/admin elements of academic life in some of the books in the series. Mind you, I’m not sure how she gets away with doing as little work as she seems to do in some of the novels in the series!Diane
Dr Diane Nutt PFHEAHE Consultant
From: Online forum for SEDA, the Staff & Educational Development Association <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Marita Grimwood <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, December 11, 2019 2:21:31 PM
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Academic memoirs and novelsHi Alex
Cold Earth by Sarah Moss, although set on an archaeological research trip and therefore not a ‘university’ novel, is definitely of the academic world (and a great read – she’s under-rated in my view!). Ghost Wall and Night Wakings have echoes of the same.
Marita
From: Online forum for SEDA, the Staff & Educational Development Association [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Buckley, Alex
Sent: 11 December 2019 14:06
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Academic memoirs and novels
Hello all,
Does anyone have any recommendations for good writing about the academic life? I’m looking for non-academic literature: memoirs, fiction, biographies etc. along the lines of Les Back’s Academic Diary, or The Lecturer’s Tale by James Hynes. And ideally more up to date than the classic campus novels e.g. Lucky Jim or The History Man.
Thanks!
Alex
Dr Alex Buckley SFHEA
Assistant Professor, Learning and Teaching Enhancement
Room 1.10, Scott Russell Building
Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh
0131 451 4185
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