|
|
"And Seek for Truth in the Garden of Academus": British Campus Novel in the 20th Century
Pomazova, Yekaterina ; Beran, Zdeněk (advisor) ; Horová, Miroslava (referee)
There is nothing so suspenseful as an academic committee. - Charles Percy Snow The campus or academic novel is an undeservedly forgotten literary genre that is believed to have its origins in the Anglo-American world in the early 1950s. Ironically enough, there is a lack of due attention to the genre even in many of the English literature-focused programmes, while the ambience, the characterization and the plot of academic novels are directly interrelated with university life. The bachelor's thesis would focus particularly on the British campus novel and its features, attempting to understand the essential characteristics of a classic academic novel. The earliest the thesis will focus on is The Masters by Charles Percy Snow, a rather ambiguous representative of the genre, written in 1951. Even though, some scholars do not consider this work an academic novel, the majority of critics agree that the novel belongs to the era of ivory towers of the campus novel genre. The campus novel, as we know it today, is not just a matter of setting; it is a very complex term that includes satire, irony and critique of academia. The Masters portrays rather a solemn and elegiac university life, which may seem bland and simple at first but in reality, it is a multi-layered writing that is not afraid of bringing up...
|
guest ::
