Explore four contemporary book recommendations within the subgenre that will have you, for once, looking forward to the start of fall quarter
By SAVANNAH ANNO — arts@theaggie.org
While it’s decidedly unhealthy to romanticize the more difficult bits of life — a past relationship, working too much, the 1950s — your college experience is most certainly the exception. How else is anyone meant to survive all four years? A famous escape from reality, books set around college campuses give us the chance to translate our experiences into something captivating, full of plot points that could only ever be worthy of a main character.
Beyond the (understandable) popularity of works like Sally Rooney’s “Normal People” (2020) and Donna Tartt’s dark academia poster-child “The Secret History” (1992), an entire subgenre is to be discovered: the campus novel.
With endless possibilities — tales filled with friendship, academic rivals and the occasional murder — campus novels are solely defined by their setting and all it entails. Balancing classes, parties, mysterious professors and strange peers, you’ll be able to find at least one story synonymous with your undergrad experience in the following list.
“Babel” (2022) by R.F. Kuang
As a recent survivor of “The Poppy War” trilogy, I cannot stress the talent of R.F. Kuang enough. Her second work, “Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translator’s Revolution,” chronicles the life and education of Robin Swift. Brought to London at a young age from his home of Canton, Swift is chosen to study at Oxford’s Royal Institute of Translation. Here, Kuang highlights the source of the novel’s fantastical element: silver bars inscribed with the same word in two different languages. As 1830s England harnesses this power, Swift comes to realize his work at the university ultimately aids in imperialism.
Swift struggles with similar challenges Kuang has faced as an international student, immigrant and literary translator. Once an Oxford student herself — earning a master’s degree in Contemporary Chinese Studies — Kuang paints a familiar and loving portrait of the campus, even including her favorite café despite it not existing until 2003. You can feel her simultaneous amazement and sharp criticism of the school’s rich history in this magically complex read.
“The Idiot” (2017) by Elif Batuman
A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in fiction, “The Idiot” remains a quintessential novel for anyone beginning their undergrad years. The novel zones in on Selin Karadağ, who begins studying linguistics at 1990s Harvard and soon after forms a close relationship with an older mathematics student, Ivan.
Semi-autobiographical, “The Idiot” details many of Batuman’s small observations and strange experiences during her time on campus, making it relatable with Selin’s awkward encounters and existential confusion as she’s faced with adulthood. For anyone that feels a little confused or, perhaps, like an idiot going into their first year, Batuman has you covered with this introspective and meticulous piece of work.
“Real Life” (2020) by Brandon Taylor
Similar to the previous authors, Taylor’s debut novel is largely a reflection of his own time at university. But unlike most of his peers, Taylor originally sought after a career as a scientist, studying chemistry until making the switch to creative writing postgrad. His main character, Wallace, faces a similar challenge in struggling to decide his future as a scientific researcher after leaving Alabama for a job in the Midwest.
One of the most interesting aspects of “Real Life” is its timeline, spanning just one singular weekend of Wallace’s life as he’s faced with the reality of his present situation: his father has passed away, he’s in a complicated relationship with a straight man and he feels like an outsider on his predominantly white campus. Will he persevere, change courses, quit?
Both Black and queer, Taylor wrote “Real Life” with the intent of seeing more of himself and his community within the sphere of campus-set, academia-focused novels. Providing a fresh pair of eyes, Taylor spins an emotional and well-crafted story to read as you experience your own academic overthinking or potential feelings of not belonging.
“Ninth House” (2019) by Leigh Bardugo
With the release of “Ninth House,” Leigh Bardugo graduated along with her young adult “Six of Crows” fans into the university setting. Taking place at Yale, the first novel of the dark fantasy series follows 20-year-old and incoming freshman Alex Stern, chosen to watch over the university’s secret societies for her ability to see ghosts.
Based on Bardugo’s discovery of Yale’s real-life secret society tombs, “Ninth House” details the mythology of the eight Houses of the Veil, which are groups of students that study arcane magic. A member of the secret ninth house, Alex is immediately thrown into an unraveling mystery involving the disappearance of her mentor, Daniel Arlington, and a strange murder that takes place on the edge of campus.
A dark academia novel with magically charged conflict, Bardugo provides the perfect series to start as the sky starts to darken along with the seasons. This October, curl up with “Ninth House” and continue on to the second book of the trilogy, “Hell Bent.”
Between fantasizing about tea time at Oxford, attending Harvard at the same time as Barack Obama and practicing dark magic underneath the Yale campus grounds, who has time to stress over midterms? Stretching your imagination to its limit, campus-set novels are able to transform the everyday trials of college into something Pulitzer Prize worthy.
Written by: Savannah Anno — arts@theaggie.org
