What is your favorite satirical take on higher education? Maybe Jane Smiley’s "Moo." Or Don DeLillo’s "White Noise"? Or it could be Rodney Dangerfield’s "Back to School." Let’s face it, there almost endless works of fiction poking fun at academic life. As the summer ends and we head into the fall semester, we wanted to take a moment to celebrate this rich tradition of parody of academic life, and look at what these works say about the big challenges facing higher education today.
For this episode, we talk to three different writing professors with something to say about satire. One is the author of an acclaimed academic satire. Another did an unusual work of satire on Twitter to call attention to the plight of adjuncts. And the third has a suggestion for the academic satire that he wishes someone out there would write.
Episode page: https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-09-03-satirical-takes-on-higher-ed-and-why-they-matter
Julie Schumacher's recommended works of campus satire:
Don DeLillo, "White Noise"
David Lodge, Campus Trilogy
Lan Samantha Chang, "All is Forgotten, Nothing is Lost"
John Warner's recommended works of campus satire:
David Lodge, Campus Trilogy (his favorites are the first two, "Changing Places" and "Small World")
Richard Russo, "Straight Man"
Francine Prose, "Blue Angel"
