English 66: On Campus
A course on the Campus Romance, broadly construed. Suggestions for improving the syllabus very welcome; I’m still missing tons of stuff, and I only just discovered Tam Lin and it’s one of the best campus novels every written. Email me.
(Is this too much reading? It’s only twelve novels, but several of them are not short.)
Required Reading
- A Place Apart
- Pamela Dean, Tam Lin
- Jo Walton, Among Others
- Lev Grossman, The Magicians
- Strong Foundations
- Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown’s School Days
- R. F. Delderfield, To Serve Them All My Days
- Dorothy Sayers, Gaudy Night
- Love Gone Wrong
- A. S. Byatt, Possession
- Michael Chabon, Wonder Boys
- David Lodge, Changing Places
- Disaster
- Allegra Goodman, Intuition
- Anita Shreve, Testimony
- Muriel Sparks, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Strongly Suggested
J.K.Rowling, Harry Potter (vols. 1-7); Orson Scott Card, Enders Game; Curtis Sittenfeld, Prep;
Film
The Paper Chase. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969). Wonder Boys. Buffy The Vampire Slayer, seasons 2-3. An Education (2009), Au Revoir Les Enfants.
Updates: Max Beerbohm, Zuleika Dobson. Richard Powers, Galatea 2.0. John Knowles, A Separate Peace.
Film Updates: Good Will Hunting.