Malcolm Bradbury: The History Man - The State of Academia as seen through student's eyes

Friedrich Schiller University, Jena

Malcolm Bradbury:
The History Man - The State of Academia as seen through student′s eyes

by

 Christina Martens

Content

1 The "History Man" and his great influence on other people 2

2 Students of Watermouth and their relation to the university 3
2.1 Felicity Phee 3
2.2 The two girls 7
2.3 The student George Carmody 9

3 The tension of The History Man 13

4 Bibliography 14

1 The "History Man" and his great influence on other people

The History Man is one of Malcolm Bradbury`s seven novels and it was published in 1975. This satiric novel belongs to the campus fiction of the seventies. A campus novel is determined by the history of an university. It mirrors problems and crises of the institution at that time. The meeting of students and lecturers in this kind of novel is an important feature. Those two groups constitute the social system of the university and build up the story, because every group makes different experiences in this institution. In an interview Malcolm Bradbury explained some of the tensions that lay behind The History Man. Within this novel he wanted to deal with some ironic processes of human behaviour. Therefore the author gives his characters some important trades.

The University of Watermouth is one of the new universities, because it was found after the war. This institution is an invention of the author. The main character is a lecturer of sociology, Doctor Howard Kirk. He does not want to teach history as it was, he just wants to make history after his own radical opinion. His aim is to revolutionize teaching and that is why his seminars are the means to an end for his political self-realization. Referring to the title of the book, Howard Kirk as the "History Man" influences the students not only in their view about the university, but also in their opinion about politics. That is why there are some advocates of his teaching methods, but also some opponents. The man influences some students so enormously that he is responsible for their opinion about the state of academia. This can be proved on the example of Felicity Phee, a student of Howard, two girls, who also study at the University of Watermouth, and George Carmody. Furthermore Doctor Kirk is characterized in the relationships to those people indirectly. He is shown in different parts, but he is always just interested in his own aims and not in the needs of other people.

2 Students of Watermouth and their relation to the University

The author of the book looks back at the students from 1972 of Watermouth and characterizes them in the following way:

How are they this year? Well, no longer do they look like an intellectual elite; indeed, what they resemble this autumn is rather the winter retreat of Napoleon‘s army from Moscow. For in the new parade of styles, which undergoes subtle shifts year by year, like the campus itself, bits of military uniform, bedraggled scraps of garments, fur hats and forage caps and kepis, tank tops and denims and coats which have lost their buttons have become the norm; the crowds troop along raggedly, avoiding the paths which have been laid out for them, hairy human bundles fresh from sinister experiences.

The students of the 70‘s have lost their intellectual elite position and therefore they have adopted “ full proletarian status”. They appear conform and their clothes look like uniforms. The adaptation to the trends that are “ up-to-date” becomes obvious through their outward appearance.

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