In Pursuit of Happiness: Escape, Change, and Return in Contemporary Academic Novels, Or Why I Read Campus Novels, But Possibly Shouldn’t

Abstract

In this personal essay, the author compares her academic experiences to those of characters in the campus novels she enjoys reading. The novels she discusses here share a thematic concern with happiness and all seem to indicate that professional fulfillment and academic status are not sufficient in order to achieve that state.

Keywords

• happiness
• academic novel
• rachel kadish
• tolstoy lied
• graeme simsion
• the rosie project
• elisabeth brink
• save your own