For the birds : an academic novella /

Abstract

There is a long tradition in the literary world--the academic novel, books by those who have entered academe, seen the inherent illogic of the whole process and written about it. My thesis would continue with that practice, telling the tale of a typical day for a graduate student in an urban, mid-western university, and the adventure that said student might have, such as trying to survive on a pittance, eating day-old Krispy Kreams, and attempting to edit a literary publication without ever reading a submission. Can a student escape the world of the university, or is the vortex created by people trying desperately not to learn too powerful? Is it even possible to graduate sane? Our heroine struggles with these questions and the problems of identity created by being neither a student nor a teacher, but having the penalties of both.