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pturnbull's review
3.0
An embittered look at the politics of higher education set in the midst of the 70s sexual revolution. New Ph.D. Jock Jones takes a temporary job teaching creative writing in the English department at UC-Fresno. Jock, an ex-Mormon, has published a novel with gay themes, and he refuses to be less than open about his sexual orientation. He soon learns that the English Department is dominated by closeted gays who alternately proposition and resent him for pushing boundaries that they were happy to hide behind. The novel realistically shows how the closet twists and stunts human nature. One detail mars the plot and that is that Jock should have been hired on as tenure track instead of giving him a temporary contract, which by definition would have provided him no protection or expectation of continuing on.
A stereotyped look at higher education, as the professors are more interested in indulging personal interests than in furthering a body of knowledge and educating students. Jock is an exception there. Depicts a time in which sexual relations between students and professors was not as condemned as it is today. Jock accurately predicts the growing acceptance of homosexuals by society, due in part to characters like him, who risked much to promote greater understanding. In the end, though, Jock behaves very badly and loses the reader's sympathy.
Listed on Ms. Mentor's list of academic novels, summer 2015, in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
A stereotyped look at higher education, as the professors are more interested in indulging personal interests than in furthering a body of knowledge and educating students. Jock is an exception there. Depicts a time in which sexual relations between students and professors was not as condemned as it is today. Jock accurately predicts the growing acceptance of homosexuals by society, due in part to characters like him, who risked much to promote greater understanding. In the end, though, Jock behaves very badly and loses the reader's sympathy.
Listed on Ms. Mentor's list of academic novels, summer 2015, in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
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