Tenure Track

Recently, I borrowed one of the many "1001 books you should read for whatever reason" book, which left me more than a little puzzled as to the process and criteria behind the selection. For example; wouldn't it have been logic to automatically include the works that have won the Nobel literature prize? Being Norwegian and all, I found it a bit hard to swallow that the only Norwegian author in this book was Knut Hamsun, listed with Sult and Markens Grøde. Both stellar works, no doubt, but why no Sigrid Undset, Henrik Ibsen or Amalie Skram when the book practically doubled as Henry Miller's publication list?

..so I thought I'd suggest books which in my opinion are worthy of inclusion in such a list, one book at a time. Starting with

Tenure Track, by Joseph Meigs
I stumbled across this book completely by accident in the discount bin at the Borders off of Walnut Street in Cary, North Carolina, in early 2003. The only thing going for this book in terms of sales pitch besides the ridiculous price of $1.99 or whatever was the connection to academia.

The book deals with the trials and tribulations of a newly hired assistant professor at some Southern university. Meigs manages to capture the quintessential academic characters that anyone who's been exposed to colleges and universities past BSc can recognize, in a way which transcends scientific disciplines. Tenure Track is written from the standpoint of an English literature professor, but it works equally well for those anchored in natural sciences. In many ways, this is a short, academic adaptation of Faust. That alone should be sufficient motivation to read Tenure Track.

If you've had any close encounters with university lecturers and professors, this book's for you.

Edit: As has been brought to my attention, this entry was even made on World Book Day. Yesss!!