A varsity novel is a

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

whose main action is set in and around the

campus A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a college campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls, student centers or dining halls, and park-like se ...

of a

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

and focuses on students rather than faculty. Examples include

Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires ''Decli ...

's ''

Brideshead Revisited ''Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder'' is a novel by English writer Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1945. It follows, from the 1920s to the early 1940s, the life and romances of the protagonist Charles ...

'',

Donna Tartt Donna Louise Tartt (born December 23, 1963) is an American novelist and essayist. Early life Tartt was born in Greenwood, Mississippi, in the Mississippi Delta, the elder of two daughters. She was raised in the nearby town of Grenada. Her fa ...

's ''

The Secret History ''The Secret History'' is the first novel by the American author Donna Tartt, published by Alfred A. Knopf in September 1992. Set in New England, the campus novel tells the story of a closely knit group of six classics students at Hampden Colle ...

'',

Tom Sharpe Thomas Ridley Sharpe (30 March 1928 – 6 June 2013) was an English satirical novelist, best known for his '' Wilt'' series, as well as ''Porterhouse Blue'' and ''Blott on the Landscape,'' all three of which were adapted for television. Life ...

's ''

Porterhouse Blue ''Porterhouse Blue'' is a novel written by Tom Sharpe, first published in 1974. A satirical look at Cambridge life and the struggle between tradition and reform, ''Porterhouse Blue'' tells the story of Skullion, the Head Porter of Porterhouse, ...

'' and

Stephen Fry Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director and writer. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring ...

's '' The Liar'' and '' Making History''. Novels that focus on faculty rather than students are often considered to belong to a distinct genre, termed

campus novel A campus novel, also known as an academic novel, is a novel whose main action is set in and around the campus of a university. The genre in its current form dates back to the early 1950s. ''The Groves of Academe'' by Mary McCarthy, published in 19 ...

Aida Edemariam Aida Edemariam is an Ethiopian-Canadian journalist based in the UK, who has worked in New York, Toronto and London. She was formerly deputy review and books editor of the Canadian ''National Post'', and is now a senior feature writer and editor a ...

, analyzing David Lodge's novels, identifies that varsity novels " reset at

Oxbridge Oxbridge is a portmanteau of Oxford and Cambridge, the two oldest, wealthiest, and most famous universities in the United Kingdom. The term is used to refer to them collectively, in contrast to other British universities, and more broadly to de ...

, and usually among students." For his part, Lodge considers that the varsity novel was called as such " fore

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

... elatingthe exploits of young men at Oxbridge, of which Max Beerbohm’s ''

Zuleika Dobson ''Zuleika Dobson'', full title ''Zuleika Dobson, or, an Oxford love story'', is the only novel by English essayist Max Beerbohm, a satire of undergraduate life at Oxford published in 1911. It includes the famous line "Death cancels all engageme ...

'' was a classic instance, and the first section of Evelyn Waugh's ''Brideshead Revisited'' was perhaps the swan-song." However, '' The National's'' Malcolm Forbes, asserts "that...all modern varsity novels, have an antecedent in ''Brideshead Revisited''." Furthermore, Forbes considers, that the " e prime example...is Donna Tartt's masterful debut ''

'' (1992), a critical and commercial success that inevitably spawned several imitators, the most notable being Marisha Pessl's ''

Special Topics in Calamity Physics ''Special Topics in Calamity Physics'' (2006) is the debut novel by American writer Marisha Pessl. Background Pessl wrote three drafts of the book, telling Kenyon Review that "each draft took about a year. It wasn’t so much that I was rev ...

.''" Forbes considers that Benjamin Wood, in his

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...

''The Bellwether Revivals'', "does for

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

what Evelyn Waugh does for

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

." Another debut novel that falls under this genre is N. D. Williams' Ikael Torass. An early representative of the varsity novel is Edward Bradley's '' The Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green,'' while a later example is Tom Wolfe's ''

I Am Charlotte Simmons ''I Am Charlotte Simmons'' is a 2004 novel by Tom Wolfe, concerning sexual and status relationships at the fictional Dupont University. Wolfe researched the novel by talking to students at North Carolina, Florida, Penn, Duke, Stanford, and Michi ...

.'' For his part, Geoffrey Wheatcroft, states that by the publication of Kingsley Amis' ''

Lucky Jim ''Lucky Jim'' is a novel by Kingsley Amis, first published in 1954 by Victor Gollancz. It was Amis's first novel and won the 1955 Somerset Maugham Award for fiction. The novel follows the exploits of the eponymous James (Jim) Dixon, a reluctant ...

'' (1954), a campus novel, asserts that "the varsity novel was well established in England, often marked by lushly sentimental reminiscence of gilded undergraduate life, as in '' Sinister Street'' by

Compton Mackenzie Sir Edward Montague Compton Mackenzie, (17 January 1883 – 30 November 1972) was a Scottish writer of fiction, biography, histories and a memoir, as well as a cultural commentator, raconteur and lifelong Scottish independence, Scottish nation ...

or Waugh's ''Brideshead Revisited''." Frederic Raphael's ''The Glittering Prizes'' is a varsity novelization from the television series of the same name. Philip Tew's ''The Gift of Death'', a novel he turned in for his thesis, "reworks the tradition of oththe campus or varsity novel, detailing lives tied to the rhythms of the academy." A noted female writer was " Alan St. Aubyn, a pseudonym for Mrs. Frances Marshall, howrote women’s “varsity novels”." Though Rikki Ducornet's ''Brightfellow'' has been called "perhaps her most accessible book," it is also considered "the oddest of varsity novels."

References

Education in popular culture Literary genres {{lit-genre-stub