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This advertisement comes to me as I am reading the first volume of a trilogy of academic satires by British novelist/critic David Lodge. Changing Places (1975) describes an exchange of faculty between the "University of Euphoria" (Berkeley) and "Rummidge University" (Birmingham UK). It takes place in 1969, a rather lurid year in Berkeley's history. The sequels are Small World (1984) and Nice Work (1988).I find academic satires to be a welcome antidote to academic aggravation.
Thanks. There is no lack of them, fortunately. Try also:R. M. Koster, 1975, The Dissertation. Part of the Tinieblas trilogy, this novel is written in the form of a doctoral dissertation. Unlike most dissertations, in this one the footnotes are the best part.Kingsley Amis, 1954, Lucky Jim. Novel about a distinctly unlucky lecturer in his first academic job. We learn that it does not help a difficult situation to accept a few well-intended drinks just before giving a university-wide lecture on medieval England. Almost the funniest book I've ever read, but Voltaire's 'Candide' has it beat by a hair.Gregory Benford, 1981, Timescape. Benford, a physicist, writes about what he knows in this dark science fiction classic. I wonder if any of his colleagues recognized themselves, or don't physicists read novels?George H. Fitch, 1910, At Good Old Siwash. Nearly forgotten, but charming collection of short stories, including a football game played with dainty etiquette -- but only on the Siwash side. I ran across it while browsing the stacks of Stanford's Green Library. Well, it wasn't Green yet, but the book was more than 60 years old even then. A powerful argument for leaving the stacks open.Max Shulman, 1950s?, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. The short stories that inspired the TV series. In which we learn that if one is entering a poem in a contest to impress a girl, it is best not to copy the poem from a book written by the contest's judge.Fred Hoyle, 1957, The Black Cloud. An astronomer takes over the world, at least for a few days, and tells politicians just what he thinks of them. Hoyle was careful to include a disavowal in the preface.OK, break's over.Andrew K. Rindsberg"Even at a place like this ..."
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