The Problem of Genre Continuity of Works on a University Theme from "Campus Novel" to "Dark Academia"
DOI: 10.23951/1609-624X-2026-4-87-95
The dark academy novel of the 2000s–2020s draws its genre inspiration from the campus novel of the 1950s–1990s. However, these subgenres are in some ways opposed. This article analyzes the similarities and differences between the "dark academy" and the campus (university, academic) novel. The goal of this study is to identify the logic of the transition from one genre form to the other. The similarities between the two stages of understanding the university theme include, firstly, the commonality of life material; secondly, the abundance of cultural and symbolic allusions and the assumed readiness of the reader (he should be from the scientific and educational environment); thirdly, the artistic study of stereotyped and role-based behavior (the eccentric scientist and other stereotypes); fourthly, the isolation of the university environment ("a small world"); fifthly, the idea of aristocracy, the exclusivity of representatives of this world – and ironic doubt in this; sixthly, the flavor of mystery, of hidden knowledge. At the same time, these stages of artistic embodiment of the university theme are very different, sometimes even opposing. In the classic university novel, we see a serious, realistic study of the socio-psychological, historical-cultural, and sometimes political problems of the university environment (elements of irony and parody also serve important purposes, such as satire). In the "dark academy," entertainment in the spirit of popular culture reigns supreme, substituting and weakening pressing life problems and the demands of adult responsibility, offering a respite from the above-mentioned. The first stage of the genre's tradition was dominated by the notion of a lofty mission for university life, closed ("secret") to the outside world, complicated by questions about the possible illusory nature of this mission or the hero's weakness and inadequacy for the lofty cause. In contemporary prose, instead, a playful assumption about the sinister, conspiratorial underbelly of the closed university world is realized, tinged with a dark, gothic flavor. The article shows that this opposition is relative and becomes possible on the basis of a deep kinship, due to a significant change in emphasis in common denominators (the concepts of template and mystery).
Keywords: Campus novel, University novel, Dark academia, genre continuity, Academic novel, Genre poetics of modern literature, English-American prose, John Edward Williams, “Stoner”, Donna Louise Tartt, “The Secret History”
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Issue: 4, 2026
Series of issue: Issue 4
Rubric: RUSSIAN AND FOREIGN LITERATURE
Pages: 87 — 95
Downloads: 18