As novella month scoots along, I might as well mention my as-yet unpublished novella collection, The Last Educations…This was the creative part of my creative dissertation (excerpts from the critical introduction can be found here and here).
Comprised of three novellas—“Fate,” “The Consolation of Empire,” and “The Incomplete”--The Last Educations is an academic satire set at a large university in Austin, Texas. It’s filled with the absurd struggles of education: favor-dodging, ex-girlfriend avoiding, grade-dreading, plagiarist-busting, dissertation-reading, office-mate annoying, litter-box spilling, book-stealing, student-humping, cat-chasing, wrist-breaking, inopportune erectile-disfunctioning, boyfriend-dumping planning, dead-professor missing, committee-meeting texting, cloud-spotting, bureaucratic student mis-filing, classroom failing, hidden Confederate-history uncovering, book-writing, student advising, professional dysphoria-feeling, drunk-tank loitering, book discussion-leading, meth snorting, paper researching, academic schooling, sink urinating, New Years’ kissing, pool-playing, stranger disemboweling, paper-writing, paper-writing failing, incomplete-taking…yet, as the characters struggle to fit into a rapidly-changing institution, medicating themselves as best they can with sex, drugs, and literature, learning actually happens. Somehow.
You don’t like novellas or novella collections? You could call it a novel—the three sections/novellas are linked together, forming a composite novel. Or you could just call it a collection of three long short stories. At any rate, I’m convinced this book will find an audience, eventually—after all, academics like reading about academics….
Also, it’s really good! Here’s a pdf of the first few pages of “Fate.”
Comprised of three novellas—“Fate,” “The Consolation of Empire,” and “The Incomplete”--The Last Educations is an academic satire set at a large university in Austin, Texas. It’s filled with the absurd struggles of education: favor-dodging, ex-girlfriend avoiding, grade-dreading, plagiarist-busting, dissertation-reading, office-mate annoying, litter-box spilling, book-stealing, student-humping, cat-chasing, wrist-breaking, inopportune erectile-disfunctioning, boyfriend-dumping planning, dead-professor missing, committee-meeting texting, cloud-spotting, bureaucratic student mis-filing, classroom failing, hidden Confederate-history uncovering, book-writing, student advising, professional dysphoria-feeling, drunk-tank loitering, book discussion-leading, meth snorting, paper researching, academic schooling, sink urinating, New Years’ kissing, pool-playing, stranger disemboweling, paper-writing, paper-writing failing, incomplete-taking…yet, as the characters struggle to fit into a rapidly-changing institution, medicating themselves as best they can with sex, drugs, and literature, learning actually happens. Somehow.
You don’t like novellas or novella collections? You could call it a novel—the three sections/novellas are linked together, forming a composite novel. Or you could just call it a collection of three long short stories. At any rate, I’m convinced this book will find an audience, eventually—after all, academics like reading about academics….
Also, it’s really good! Here’s a pdf of the first few pages of “Fate.”
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