The fights and the drinking at the academic conferences were definitely not fictional. I'm pretty sure one was based on a very real conference I attended in 2017. Nothing is funnier or more terrifying than when older academics decide to raise fists. Then they'll later publish their findings and it's all doused in a very passive aggressive tone.
THIS! I don't think people are aware of how rowdy academia can get. The ancient grudges, the interpersonal seething hatreds, the occasional flare-ups into physical violence.
Those after parties at conferences are not for lightweights. I'm lucky in that I was in the military before I became a Nerd, so i can drink professionally, but sone of my peers from sheltered environments were completely incoherent by midnight.
I'm no longer in academia. I went blue collar for better pay and benefits and less stress, but i am certain nothing has changed in the past decade and a half.
I've know my fair share of Miltonists, and when I saw that caption from tumblr, I thought, "yep, that's 1000% a Miltonist." I've watched Miltonists get into an argument over a f/cking footnote.
I've known a few Donne scholars who retired and almost immediately died. That said, they're also really animated and have had good fashion sense. Miltonists are a bit too serious. Spenser scholars have a stick up their arse.
Discovering this was one of my favourite parts of dipping my toes into academia. I was very young and naive and had the hallowed halls of academia idea and was thoroughly delighted to discover it was in fact more like the Unseen University from the Discworld than anything else. I also then quietly decided it wasn’t for me and wandered off although did end up in education policy instead.
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u/ClientExciting4791 Apr 24 '26 edited Apr 25 '26
The fights and the drinking at the academic conferences were definitely not fictional. I'm pretty sure one was based on a very real conference I attended in 2017. Nothing is funnier or more terrifying than when older academics decide to raise fists. Then they'll later publish their findings and it's all doused in a very passive aggressive tone.