Private fantasies and public intellectuals : the campus novel and its various publics

This thesis argues that the public dimension of campus novels has been hitherto, an overlooked component in understanding the genre’s reception and literary function. Reading John Williams’ Stoner and Julie Schumacher’s Dear Committee Members with an eye towards the novels’ engagement with publics uncovers deep historical continuities with texts and media starting from the turn of the twentieth century. By tracing these historical continuities, we come to a greater understanding of how campus novels function as texts within reading communities and strategies for the uses of texts as resistance to the commercialization of higher education.Master of Art