# Ivy League/Public schools



## Khnelben (Feb 18, 2005)

Dear All,

Does anyone know of fiction books or movies, describing a) Ivy League college life or similar university life (medical, legal of business school students). Although I can reference several US movies (like the Skulls, which are OK, but not perfect), perhapsd you know different

AND 

The same in respect of top English public schools?

I am not in particular search of clothing ideas, but really for reading.

Thanks,

Andrey


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## RJman (Nov 11, 2003)

Excuse my saying it, but I fear you are subscribing too much to fantasy.

Books:
Stand Before Your God
A Separate Peace 
A Question of Upbringing
Enemies of Promise
George Orwell's essays

Movies:
Another Country
Toy Soldiers
Class
Cruel Intentions
All the Harry Potter movies
The Paper Chase
Love Story

websites: www.crappublicschools.org

Many of these -- like The Skulls -- have little relation to reality. There are, I believe, sequels to The Skulls. Although it is true that students of the college depicted in the Skulls (for legal reasons they couldn't call it Yale) get a cool car and a $50,000 bank deposit, which they then spend in Sevile Row buying non-bespoke clothing or at Turnbull and Aseer buying non-RTW, non-MTM, non-bespoke clothing from the Prince of Wales and James Bond.


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## Khnelben (Feb 18, 2005)

*Thanks*

RJman,

thanks for the reply. The list looks great.

Having myself studied at Westminster City in London, I like the general atmoshpere of old English schools, wearing shorts in the winter (with wool socks), playing rugby at St.James Park etc.

I also graduated from Moscow University which is our equivalent of Ivy League.

The Skulls movie (the original not the follow-ups which were junk) was fun but I know it's not reality.

Sadly, I don't read that much fantasy nowadays.

Thank you again, Andrey


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## Trimmer (Nov 2, 2005)

*As I have said elsewhere - 'If you see only one film about the English public school*

. . . it should be 'If' by Lindsay Anderson (1968).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/films/if.shtml











"This film was to England what _The Wild One_ or _Rebel Without A Cause_ was to America. Show it to your teenage sons. They will remember it for the rest of their lives, and one day they might even thank you for it."

Trimmer


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## PJC in NoVa (Jan 23, 2005)

Novels:

"The Rector of Justin," by Louis Auchincloss
"This Side of Paradise," by F. Scott Fitzgerald 

Films:

Dead Poets Society
The Emperor's Club


Nonfiction book:

"The Wise Men" by Evan Thomas


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## Droog (Aug 29, 2006)

Double duty for _Zuleika Dobson_ by Sir Max Beerbohm, depicts pre-WWI Oxford and is also a dandiacal novel. Find your copy to download at https://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1845


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## Virginia Dandy (Feb 12, 2006)

The Liar by Stephen Fry.

Right down the RJman's street - shares an affinity for astrakhan with the title character IIRC.


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## medwards (Feb 6, 2005)

*Moderator's Note: Change in Forum*

Inasmuch as the inquiry really is about literature rather than fashion, it has been moved to The Interchange. However, I have left a redirect link on the Fashion Forum to facilitate this discussion.


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## Lushington (Jul 12, 2006)

RJman said:


> Books:
> . . .
> 
> A Question of Upbringing . . .


You may find it useful to supplement this novel with the first volume of Anthony Powell's memoirs, _Messengers Of Day. _In either case, avoid Widmerpool and his overcoat.


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## Blackadder (Apr 3, 2004)

Stover at Yale. (So ancient as to be almost unreadable. Add to that "Tom Brown's School Days."

Film: The original "Goodby, Mr. Chips".

And RJ-ManL: where did you get a copy of Enemies of Promise?!?! Been looking (not very hard) for ages!


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## Lushington (Jul 12, 2006)

Blackadder said:


> Stover at Yale. (So ancient as to be almost unreadable. Add to that "Tom Brown's School Days."
> 
> Film: The original "Goodby, Mr. Chips".
> 
> And RJ-ManL: where did you get a copy of Enemies of Promise?!?! Been looking (not very hard) for ages!


https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0892550783/ref=dp_olp_2/104-8203348-1573509?ie=UTF8


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## RJman (Nov 11, 2003)

Steven Fry is one of my favorite authors. His memoirs, Moab is My Washpot, also contain a description of public school life at Uppingham.

Enemies of Promise has been on my Amazon list for years -- The Economist recommended it for the same reasons Mr Khnelben did -- so I don't actually own it. I hope that does not make the portals of the Upper East Side quake!

Andrey: Were you at Westminster the public school?


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## Trimmer (Nov 2, 2005)

*Enemies of Promise*



Blackadder said:


> where did you get a copy of Enemies of Promise?!?! Been looking (not very hard) for ages!


https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&an=connolly&y=13&tn=Enemies+of+Promise&x=46

Trimmer


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## Blackadder (Apr 3, 2004)

*Sigh* The internet removes all the sense of achievement and thrill in life.

I remember when Heywood Hill sent me the first volume of "Memoirs of an Aesthete". My heart sank when I realised that I no longer had a quest sure to secure my bonafides and stump a book dealer.


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## Smudger (Jun 11, 2005)

Tom Brown at Oxford


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## Lushington (Jul 12, 2006)

Oh, yes, one might also have a look at the Molesworth novels: _Down with Skool!,_ _How to be Topp_, _Whizz for Atomms,_ and, _Back in the Jug Agane. _Penguin publishes a one-volume edition, under the collective title _Molesworth_, which features illustrations by Ronald Searle.

Richard Yates' _A Good School _is typically melodramatic and grim. Funny in parts, however.


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## Liberty Ship (Jan 26, 2006)

Animal House


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## ceaton (Feb 15, 2006)

Khnelben said:


> Dear All,
> 
> Does anyone know of fiction books or movies, describing a) Ivy League college life or similar university life (medical, legal of business school students).


One L, Broken Contract, and the Paperchase do Harvard Law pretty well.


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## Beresford (Mar 30, 2006)

RJman said:


> Steven Fry is one of my favorite authors. His memoirs, Moab is My Washpot, also contain a description of public school life at Uppingham.


The same Fry who played Jeeves on the Jeeves and Wooster series? He and Hugh Laurie were both wonderful in that, truly one of the funniest and most engaging TV programs I have ever seen.


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## xcubbies (Jul 31, 2005)

Check out Kipling's 'Stalky & Co."


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## Fogey (Aug 27, 2005)

Surely not about a top public school (in fact about a rather dodgy fictional school set in a private castle), but Waugh's _Decline and Fall_ is a most amusing read, and the first act is set in Oxford.

Someone wisely recommended _A Separate Peace_, by the late John Knowles. I also recommend its equally masterful sequel (about 'Devon school' immediately after the War) called _Peace Breaks Out_. Knowles was an Old Exonian, and so Devon is widely regarded to be 'standing in' for Phillips Exeter in his novels.


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## 16128 (Feb 8, 2005)

The Secret History by Donna Tartt is set at some fictional private college - it's a good read though not really centred on the school experience.


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## jasonpraxis (Mar 29, 2005)

VS said:


> The Secret History by Donna Tartt is set at some fictional private college - it's a good read though not really centred on the school experience.


"Hampden College," an idealized representation of Bennington College, Bennington, Vermont.

For another take on Bennington College in fiction, try _The Rules of Attraction _by Bret Easton Ellis. (He calls it "Camden College," for what it's worth.)

Roger Avary (_Killing Zoe, Pulp Fiction_) also adapted the Ellis novel for film, released three or four years ago.


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## Fogey (Aug 27, 2005)

I was just reading on Wikipedia a fascinating interpretation of Phineas from A Separate Peace:


> It is argued that Finny does not exist at all, and is a mere symbol of the innocence of childhood, as is his last name is never mentioned in the book.


Looking back...a startingly interesting view. Thoughts?


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## Fogey (Aug 27, 2005)

A beautiful photographic essay of the contemporary setting of A_ Separate Peace_:


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## FlashForFreedom (May 16, 2009)

Liberty Ship said:


> Animal House


strongly agree!


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## Apatheticviews (Mar 21, 2010)

Harry Potter?


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## Padme (Aug 18, 2009)

The Catcher in the Rye
A Separate Peace
A Good School
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Tom Brown's SchoolDays
Goodbye Mr. Chips (aready mentioned)
Tea and Sympathy
This Side of Paradise and anything else by Fitzgerald
Love Story
Decline and Fall and anything else by Waugh
The Headmaster
Rector of Justin
Good Times/Bad Times
The Stories of John Cheever and anything else by Cheever
Lawrenceville Stories
The Belles of St. Trinians

Optional
The Duke of Deception
The World According to Garp
Anything by George Plimpton
Anything by F. Buckley, Jr.

There were some ladies mysteries but I forget now who wrote them, a bookshop book we all liked. I've been reading cookbooks lately, so I'm not in a prep school train of thought.


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## Gurdon (Feb 7, 2005)

Although it begins with commencement, I think The Group by Mary McCarthy fits in here.

Regards,
Gurdon


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## jackmccullough (May 10, 2006)

The Secret History was also at Bennington.

Nobody mentioned _The Social Network_ yet?


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## MichaelS (Nov 14, 2005)

Animal House?


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## godeacs (Nov 28, 2009)

For fans of the movie Animal House, there was a hilarious book released a few years ago called The Real Animal House, including interviews with the inspirations for the movie characters. If you've spent any time at Dartmouth or just enjoy the movie, I'd highly recommend it.


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