University of Duisburg-Essen

Term: Winter 2006/2007

British Universities and University Novels

Title:

"The History Man"

and "

The Affair"

:

Examples of how singular people are expelled from

colleges on the basis of divided political opinions

Author: Ismail Durgut

Table of Content:

1. Introduction 3

2. The British University: 4

2.1 A Microcosm 4

2.2 Cambridge University 4

2.3 Watermouth 5

3. The Expulsion: 7

3.1 The Affair and Howard′s Dismissal 7

3.2 The History Man and Carmody′s Desertion 8

4. Similarities and Differences 11

5. Conclusion 12

6. References: 13

2

1. Introduction

This paper deals with the dismissal of a college-member in C.P. Snow′s

The Affair

and the

desertion of a college-student in M. Bradbury′s

The History Man

, and with the reasons which

led the characters that are involved, to that decisions. What makes these two events so

interesting that they become the topic of a term paper? What functions do they fulfill in these

two university novels? Are there any similarities and/or differences between the colleges, the

staff or the two cases? Which conclusions could be drawn? These kinds of scandals illustrated

are triggering off whole strings of events in communities of colleges. They are indicators of

political participation as well as the reason for a division or separation of the members of a

college. Are the political participations of the victims the main reason for their dismissal or

desertion, as it seems at first sight, or rather a superficial reason, more than that, the

camouflage for personal ambitions of some characters in the two university novels discussed

in this paper?

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2. The British University:

2.1 A Microcosm

Both narrators, Lewis Eliot and Howard Kirk, present their colleges as societies in society,

almost hermetically sealed. Many authors, e.g. C.P. Snow, use the term

microcosm

for this

phenomenon, that means, while the college gives outstanding people the impression of being

a comprehensive and cohesive system, seen from the inside it shows a variety of social

structures and interrelations. It does not only split into institutional coexistence of

departments and courses, even in between these unities there are differences like social

background and social status, ethnic-religious affiliation, age and gender. As we will see these

characteristic features lead to a formation of a social hierarchy and sometimes even to the

discrimination or exclusion of the bearer.1 In this connection college presents itself as a

faithful reflection of the English society. Within the faculty, there is a distinct gradation, too,

expressing itself in the rate of title and the authority connected with it. This feature triggers

off a competition, even a rivalry within the faculty for benefits and power. College is, like the

state it belongs to, "[a] world of professional success, power, ambition, influence among

men".2 -As

The

History Man

shows us, not only among men. But the ways of life in colleges

are not identical. Eliot presents us a

Cambridge University

with its manners, which have

developed over centuries and have been institutionalized, whereas Bradbury′s

College of

Watermouth

is a reflection of modern life. There are several reasons for this distinction that

will become clearer in the course of this paper.

2.2 Cambridge University

Cambridge University

demonstrates the intimacy of its community that is architecturally

reflected in the isolation, the courts and quadrangles, and bureaucratically by the self-

government.3 The fundamentals of college-life have been relatively unchanged over centuries

because they are kept by a canon of official rules, unwritten laws, traditions and rituals, and

were passed on from generation to generation.4 Statutes either stipulate the corporate

procedure at official occasions with law-like commitments exactly, e.g. the procedure at

elections, employments, dismissals, deaths and funerals, or give detailed instructions for the

administration of college-owned property. Its isolation and the old buildings evoke an

atmosphere of warmth and security, although the rooms are drafty and warmed up by

1 Dubber, p.142

2 Dubber, p.182

3 Dubber, p.129

4 Dubber, p.131

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