Retaking College Hill is a novel of both action and ideas. It deals with a topic which is an excellent source of dramatic conflict but hasn’t been used in literature as much as it should. That topic is the battle for academic freedom, for making universities a place for teaching and controversy without fear of retaliation.There’s a new update on GoFundMe on Uncle Hugo’s Bookstore. As you may recall, it was destroyed by arson during the Minneapolis protests, most likely by someone taking advantage of the confusion rather than a legitimate protester. But they’re still working on finding a suitable location for a new store. In the meantime, you can buy books from the website.
They’re really going for the long haul. As I’m writing this, Uncle Hugo’s has an event scheduled for July 31, 21021.
I have no association with the store. I’m just a fan supporting other fans.
But the attempt to extract a “monomyth” from all the world’s heroic quest stories doesn’t impress me very much. It has an intensely Freudian focus and plays down aspects of myth which don’t fall into that scheme. I’m no folklorist, so don’t expect expert analysis here, but to me the basic formulation seems forced.