School & Academia

  • Academia refers to higher education, the world of universities and their colleges.
  • Academia is the repository of knowledge and its transmission.
  • It also refers to research and critical analysis, especially those written in universities.
In literature, this category is well-represented by many examples of Campus novels and the new Dark Academia genre.
Writing machine on a desk with a magnifier glass and literary papers

A guide to literary term categories and their definitions

October 2, 2025
What's the difference between genre, style, narrative techniques, figures of speech, literary movement? Literary analysis has a long catalogue of words and expressions. So to understand them better, let's group them into big categories first.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

September 29, 2025
Richard is accepted in a very selective class at a Vermont college. His recollections of this period reveal that he and his friends have a secret: they murdered one of their own. But it is just the tip of the iceberg.

Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis

September 22, 2025
James Dixon, “Jim”, tries to keep his job as a history lecturer at a university. But how will he manage when his pranks and efforts always seem to backfire?

Stoner by John Williams

September 10, 2025
William Stoner is a student at an agricultural college. During an English literature course, he is so struck by this new world of knowledge that he changes his studies to become an academic.
A stack of letters on a wooden table, there are also flowers

Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster

September 2, 2025
17-year-old Jerusha Abbott is living in an orphanage, when an anonymous benefactor decides to pay for her education and send her to college. She then takes the train to a new life full of promise and exciting discoveries.