The graduate student novel: a new subgenre in university fiction

Abstract

This study examines novels with graduate student protagonists, referred to as graduate student novels or grad novels, and argues that such novels should be considered distinct from others about university experiences. It builds on previous scholarship that distinguishes between novels about professors and about undergraduates as academic and campus novels, respectively. Through the consideration of several grad novels, three common elements are identified as characteristic of the subgenre: a grad student protagonist who is introduced at a moment of stasis in their research or academic progress; the intervention of fate which dramatically impacts the protagonist's story, and a conclusion that alludes to or explicitly depicts a kind of success in academia. The recognizable characteristics that illustrate the major differences, also provide helpful avenues toward examinations of the image of graduate scholarship produced by grad novels and different issues related to higher education. The initial stasis is examined as allegorical for the recently identified developmental stage of the quarter life and the quarter life crisis. The significance of fate and the protagonists' lack of agency is discussed alongside considerations of anti-intellectual sentiments. And the fictional academic success is read in comparison with academic quit lit written by scholars leaving academia. This dissertation considers the graduate novel as capable of being read both as an allegory and as representative of the actual experiences of scholars-in-training. It concludes with a contemplation of the potential alternative interpretations of readers inside and outside of academia.