The strange truths about higher education: 'Fictional' representations of organizational culture and governance in four academic novels

A great deal of higher education and other social science research has been devoted to explaining organizational realities and dynamics at colleges and universities. In an effort to enhance the current perspectives and understandings about organization and governance in American higher education today, this study analyzes four novels published within the last fifteen years which include, as either a main or subplot, stories that give an insider's view into the lives of those who work in academia. The main questions I seek to answer through analysis of the novels are: How does the study of fiction enhance academics' understanding of organizational culture and academic governance? What do contemporary academic novels tell us about life within the academy for those currently working in colleges and universities in the United States? Finally, does the study of novels confirm or enrich the conclusions drawn from social science research about organizational culture in colleges and universities?{09}In Chapter One, I will offer a rationale for studying novels as a means of contributing to the higher education scholarship. Chapter Two provides a review of what scholars from various disciplines have said about the genre of academic fiction, while Chapter Three describes the criteria used for selection of the novels and the approach taken in later chapters of this dissertation. Chapters Four through Seven discuss the following novels: Philip Roth's The Human Stain (2000), Jon Hassler's The Dean's List (1997), Richard Russo's Straight Man (1997), and Jane Smiley's Moo (1995). The final eighth chapter concludes the discussion of the myriad ways fictional representations of higher education illuminate and confirm organizational and governance scholarship.