The life of the mind: American academia reflected through contemporary fiction

Abstract

What is it about academia anyway? We profess to hate it, spend endless amounts of time complaining about it, and yet we in academia will do practically anything to stay. The pay may be low, job security elusive, and in the end, it's not the glamorous work we envisioned it would be. Yet, it still holds fascination and interest for us. This is an article about American academic fiction. By academic fiction, I mean novels whosemain characters are professors, college students, and those individuals associated with academia. These works reveal many truths about the higher education experience not readily available elsewhere. We learn about ourselves and the university community in which we work.

Citation

Johnson, L. (1995), "The life of the mind: American academia reflected through contemporary fiction", Reference Services Review, Vol. 23 No. 3, pp. 23-43. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb049252