The academic satire

6 comments on “The academic satire”

1. Ian LeTourneau says:
   March 28th, 2006 at 10:58 am

   The writing was spectacular, George. But I had mixed reactions about the creative writing prof in this instance bearing a too close resemblance to John Thompson. For the most part, the resemblance is not immediately visceral, but when Coady’s prof starts writing ghazals, well, I had to put the book down for a few minutes. I thought it was an unnecessary detail that truly didn’t add anything to the story, other than make it too obviously a portrait of Thompson. I guess my feelings are still mixed.

   Coady does nail the undergrad coming-of-age feelings, though.

2. Elise Moser says:
   March 28th, 2006 at 11:40 am

   I don’t see why it should be painful — it made me laugh out loud so often my boyfriend was waiting, hand outstretched, as soon as I turned the final page. There’s nothing in the portraits of the characters that won’t ring true to the range of human behaviour; as in the real-life academy, there’s nothing professors and students do that doesn’t occur in other milieux as well. Having said that, it didn’t strike me as having the guts her previous books have had.

3. Ken Kowal says:
   March 28th, 2006 at 12:48 pm

   i have an uncorrected proof copy on loan from a friend.
   the epigraph is from one of John Thompson’s poems:

   to be possessed or
   abandoned by a god
   is not in the language

   Don’t know which one.
   Seems to me Coady is tipping her hat here.

4. Nick Thran says:
   March 28th, 2006 at 3:40 pm

   I think any resemblance of Arsenault to Thompson is tenuous at best, this really could be any number of Canadian University writing profs. It really is frightening (I’m a little over halfway through) how well she nails the undergrad writing experience, or to bring up Elise’s point, any character with an abundance of passion and energy to put towards something they have an utter lack of actual experience in. But I’m enjoying the book despite the resemblances to myself and others, because while she’s skewering our egos and institutional experiences, she also does very well not to skewer poetry itself. This is a character study, not a poetry potshot, and the line she walks (again, not quite done) thus far is commendable. And friggin hilarious too.

5. Michelle B. says:
   March 28th, 2006 at 4:38 pm

   I was nuts for it, but then in a masochistic way it reminded me of the inspired frustration from having one Christopher Dewdney as a creative writing prof ..

6. Heather says:
   April 22nd, 2006 at 3:40 pm

   The Thompson quotation is from “Apple Tree” which you can find in At the Edge of the Chopping There are No Secrets.

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