''Pictures from an Institution: a Comedy'' is a 1954 novel by American poet Randall Jarrell. It is an academic

satire Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...

, focusing on the oddities of academic life, in particular the relationships between the characters and their private lives. The nameless narrator, a Jarrell-like figure who teaches at a women's college called Benton, makes humorous observations about his students and his fellow academics; especially the latter, and in particular the offensively tactless novelist Gertrude, modeled on Mary McCarthy. Some believe Benton was modeled after Sarah Lawrence College, where Jarrell taught but in an interview with the ''New York Times'', Jarrell stated that "Benton is supposed to be just a type ... I've taken things from real places, but mostly have made them up".

Characters

* Unnamed narrator, a professor of literature * Gertrude Johnson, a visiting novelist * President Robbins, a former Olympic diver * Gottfried Rosenbaum, composer in residence * Constance, a longtime friend of the narrator, a beautiful music student

Awards

''Pictures from an Institution'' was a finalist for the National Book Award.National Book Foundation
"National Book Awards - 1955"
2007, accessed April 1, 2011.

References

External links

from the book at the

University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including '' The Chicago Manual of Style'' ...

.
''New York Times'' review
by Orville Prescott (1954) 1954 American novels Satirical books Campus novels Alfred A. Knopf books {{1950s-novel-stub