Adjunct

by Geoff Cebula

Welcome to Bellwether College! Behind the austere buildings and carefully manicured lawns, a budgetary crisis strikes fear into the hearts of all contingent faculty. As the administration plots further cuts, adjunct professor Elena Malatesta fears that her position will be next under the knife. Perhaps the budget shouldn’t be her main concern, however, as the faculty in her department have started disappearing under suspicious circumstances. Could someone be murdering contingent faculty? But who would do this? And to what end? Or has Elena simply watched one too many murder mysteries?

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Comedy

146 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 26, 2017

Reviews

[Lucy Barnhouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Particularly as a precariously-employed academic, I loved this. It is absurd in the best tradition of campus novels, as well as very inventive in how it develops its details, and its allusions to Italian gialli. It works as a mystery, a dark comedy, and a touching look at the ways in which collegial solidarity and professor-student bonds can survive even in the often-hostile conditions of twenty-first century academia.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I had read this novel while I was still adjuncting, it would almost certainly have sent me into a major depressive episode. I'm still contingent faculty—not on the tenure track—but I have enough job security (in part because I have a partner who is on the tenure track) that I can see what I think the author is ultimately saying about "the crisis of higher education."

Academics are generally people who are neither wholly selfless in their passion for knowledge nor wholly obsessed with status, but they have more of both qualities than most other people. Having at the same time so much purity and so much pettiness is mentally exhausting even for those favored by the system with tangible rewards and frequent adulation, but it is unbearable for those whose working conditions make further competition for those marks of distinction next to impossible.

Many people in this latter position try to let go of one or the other of these qualities. Some take on a self-sacrificing identity and try to convince themselves they are no longer jealous of "the winners" of this arbitrary, inscrutable system. Others decide that they will sever their ties with any idealism about a higher purpose for higher education and will instead just treat it as a fight for survival, a Hunger Games of the intellect. Both strategies are untenable—each leads to self-recrimination and burnout. Instead, what I think the author suggests is letting go to a similar degree of each side—fetishizing the pursuit of knowledge a little less, and caring about the respect of people with post-baccalaureate degrees a little less. It is healthy to be more modest in one's expectations both for the life of the mind in general and the life of your mind in particular.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will admit, I was almost turned off in the early chapters of this book. The description of academic life was just a bit too on-the-nose: accurate, but heavy-handed and a bit too introspective for my tastes, given that I already spend too much of my life thinking about the problems represented. But around the 20% mark, it took its weird genre turn, and I loved it. The zany horror film subplot really brought out the humor in the author's critique. Cebula turned what could have read like a novelization of a dry Chronicle of Higher Ed article into something fun and creative but still relevant. Very enjoyable.

[E.P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Was it really worth it? Elena thought as they prepared her for the sacrifice. Was any of this really worth it at the end of the day? Sure, pursuing a PhD. had given her a chance to think deeply about issues that she cared about...But was it really worth it for her? At a certain level, she just felt like academia demanded too much from her. She felt increasingly uncomfortable with how much of her life the job demanded--not only the time, but also the mental energy. There were no real breaks, no moments when she didn't feel a need to be 'on.'...Like an overzealous floor manager with only one employee, she had learned to surveil herself at all times, constantly asking how every action contributed to her overall productivity. It was exhausting."

So thinks Elena Malatesta, contingent faculty of Italian at Bellwether College, when she fears she is facing death. After dedicating a third of her life to the study of Italian language and culture, and achieving the highest possible degree in her field, she finds herself one of the legions of contingent faculty members who now staff American universities, living paycheck to paycheck (if not surviving on food stamps) with no job security and few prospects for the kind of secure middle-class lifestyle that academia is supposed to provide in exchange for the sacrifices it demands. Despite all this, Elena, like most of her peers, does everything she can to demonstrate her commitment to the college that treats her as disposable, while volunteering for extra, largely unpaid, teaching duties even as she works side jobs to make ends meet. But maybe she has bigger problems than that? Maybe the other contingent faculty members in her department are disappearing because they're being...taken? Or has she just snapped from the strain?

I don't know if I can review this "objectively" at all, having been pretty much exactly in Elena's position myself (plus my name is also Elena, although I don't teach Italian :) ). So I'll just say that any early-career academic, or pretty much anyone who's been involved in academia, is probably going to alternately chuckle and wince, or maybe shed a few tears, while reading through this. The closely calculated daily race against the clock, the constant worry that you're an incompetent failure surrounded by all these brilliant, successful geniuses, the fact that "at a certain level she thought of herculean feats of concentration as the kind of heroic labors a true academic should be able to perform. It wasn't enough to do a satisfactory job at a series of fairly challenging intellectual tasks. No, she needed to do something that would show unequivocally that she belonged to the scholarly class," are all so true to life that those who've experienced academia from the inside may find themselves shrieking "it's true, it's true!" as they read. And for those coming to this from the outside: trust me, it really is true.

Well, maybe not the murder and human sacrifice part, although..."the offerings were actually all young adults who had made unsuccessful bids to joint the priesthood...For those who survived, induction into the upper ranks was celebrated with the elaborate ritual of Ten-Yur, in which they were paraded around in robes and anointed with the blood of a slaughtered calf to symbolize their rebirth among the ruling class." Yep, sounds about right. Anyway, somewhat like the novels of Robert B. Parker, who got a PhD. in English before turning to writing crime fiction, this is a mystery novel set amongst the absurdities of the worst of academia, although written from the inside, as it were, rather than the outside, and with an element of black magic. Which only adds to the realism. All in all, "Adjunct" is half thriller, half social satire, and 100% a deliciously hilarious, if dark, take on a major American subculture, and the crisis that faces it (and thus, everyone who has anything to do with American education). Not exactly your normal detective fare, "Adjunct" is full of insider insights into the world it depicts. An absolute must-read for any academic, and well worth checking out for non-academics as well.

[Chuck · Rating 3 out of 5]

The practitioners of this religion were known for their rigid internal hierarchy, which informed their social structures and sacrificial practices. The senior circle of priests would make all decisions about the day-to-day life of the worshippers in accordance with their interpretation of a series of arcane rules passed on from generation to generation. . . . Try as he might, Howlsley could not find any information about why certain acolytes succeeded in joining the priesthood while others failed . . . For those who survived, induction into the upper ranks was celebrated with the elaborate ritual of Ten-Yur. . . . [pp. 107-108]

Adjunct university faculty are notoriously overworked and underpaid, but few of them encounter a cult aimed at turning professors into zombies in order to gratify a leader who dropped out of graduate school. If that theme intrigues you, then Adjunct should be right up your alley. The author, Geoff Cebula, holds a Ph.D. in Slavic languages from Princeton, and, having taught as an adjunct, he is able to infuse his novel with some major doses of lower-rank academic realism (zombies notwithstanding). He's obviously a smart guy, and to his credit, his prose here doesn't sound as if it belongs in an arcane academic journal, even though he does inject some well-informed and serious discussion of Italian giallo films. Yet, although Cebula aptly ridicules various common university foibles, his satire ultimately falls short of the humor to which it presumably aspires.

At the end of the story, there's some serious self reflection, as Elena Malatesta, the protagonist, decides to leave the academic world (as did Cebula). This is a poignant section, for it clearly articulates the reasons why many young and dedicated scholars seek university teaching positions, while at the same time being forced to balance their humanistic values against the oppressive regimens that many of them face:

She believed it was absolutely essential for young adults to learn how to ask intelligent and critical questions about themselves and their world; she thought the microcosm of the campus was an ideal way for them to learn about their abilities and obligations within a larger community. . . . She had been caught up in a vicious cycle of self-interrogation over the ways in which she seemed to be falling short of the University's demands, but she had thought comparatively little about her own demands. What did she need to have a fulfilling career, and a satisfying professional life? [p. 135]

Adjunct is self-published, thereby yielding a reminder that a writer's spellchecker can be overlooked ("florescent"), and can fail to flag instances where an incorrect word is substituted for an intended one ("lightening"/"lightning"; "moths"/"months"). Granted, professional copyeditors often do a lot worse than that, and their failings usually appear in books selling for a lot more $7.99 -- the current price of this one.

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hope Cebula keeps writing. This was his first novel - and it had the usual problems of a first novel - too many things crammed in, jerky plot progress, smart-alecky comments (which I thought we actually sort of fun, but...). It was also self-published at Amazon and apparently no one had proofed the copy for typing errors (and they were rife - and that annoys me a LOT). But, the fact remains, that it was an amusing, thought-provoking first novel. The plight of the adjunct university professor in today's economic world is well-known and much talked about in academic circles (although not much done about) and the "insider" talk and jokes were liberal and funny - and, well, insider jokes. In this, it fits well in to the genre of academic-insider novels (think "Lucky Jim" by Kingsley Amis and a slew of others). What sets this book apart is the last half of the novel (mystery?) - the slide into mysticism and the old Canaanite religion. Cebula was over the top in this, with all the allusions to the owl and the bull's head and the nameless god (Moloch) and the child sacrifice (think Abraham and Isaac). Read Genesis chapter 12 if you want some Biblical background. I tried and tried to interpret all of this weird stuff as a metaphor for the plight of the poor academic adjunct (sacrifice, slaughter of the innocents, arbitrary selection, etc.) but I had a hard time doing it. Put on top of all of this the Italian film genre of "giallo" and you have lots of opportunities for literary illusions. If you read this, let me know what you think. Write some more, Geoff, although I gather you have left the professional academic world and have gone to the bad side - law school. I'm pretty sure you can make more money and I can only imagine this new experience will provide wonderful new examples of "giallo" and human sacrifice!!

[Jill de Villiers · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a a big fan of academic novels (and even an author of one) I was looking forward to this immensely. It is funny, and there are very poignant discussions of the perils of adjunct professorship. There are some brilliant sections describing the modern university, especially the model proposed at the faculty meeting of "Anatomy of a Healthy College" in which a chamber pot of alumni gifts is showering a small demon made of parts of the university, with little mention of faculty. But I just couldn't get into the absurdity of the motive for the killings. It feels like a promising novel that went astray.

[Kelly Macfarlane · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting take on the academic novel (and so nice to see an academic novel *not* focussed on the English Department!), this one featuring an adjunct, mysteriously disappearing adjuncts, and my favourite line "If contingent faculty were being killed at your university at the rate of one per day, how many days would it take for someone in your administration to notice?"

Absolutely worth a read by any fan of academic lit!

[Barbara Kemp · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this short novel about an adjunct professor of Italian, but,, alas, it turned into a zombie novel. Up to that point I was really enjoying it. It was funny in parts and relatable in others, until the zombies showed up. Then, nope, not my thing.

[Barbara Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brilliantly and often wickedly funny book. The plot takes a highly imaginative turn. Darkly reflective of academic life, the book has some wisdom to offer, too.

[Nethra Ram · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bleh

[Kemp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny and accurate
Needs much better editing
Speaks to adjunct me

[Caelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolutely hilarious academic satire.

[SJ Fitzpatrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a little uneven but mostly a fun read.

[Savanna Wooten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny and campy

[David Corbet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meager.

[Perinwinkle G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

great read

A thrilling foray into the horrors of being overeducated and underemployed. What a ride, written by an actual scholar — highly recommended!

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this! Funny and creepy with some excellent wisdom about the academic life. Especially highly recommended for adjuncts, professors, would-be-professors, grad students, etc.

[Wendelle]

out of the gray gory reality of adjuncts the author bakes a darkly funny confection of a story. intensely satirical