Mind and Body Shop - Softcover

Parkin, Frank

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0440201837 ISBN 13: 9780440201830

Publisher: Laurel, 1988

Synopsis

In a satirical portrait of anarchy in academia, professors at a modern British university tailor their research to meet corporate needs, resulting in some questionable endeavors undertaken to preserve department funding

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

The central characters of this frenetically zany satire by a tutor in politics at Oxford (author of Krippendorf's Tribe are philosophy professor Hambro and his fat, unloved wife, Margeryformerly his charlady. Margery studies women's lib with glamorous school psychiatrist Hedda Hagstrom, who jots down personal shopping lists while listening to student woes and then counsels suicide. Hedda advises Margery to have a baby, but Hambro, devoted to his research on George Orwell, spitefully gets a vasectomy. Margery then takes a student lover, the previously suicidal Colin. Margery's ex-con dad, Shanker, becomes a self-made philosopher and designs a popular Jacuzzi seminar on Spinoza. With money as its aim, the university gradually sells out to its wealthiest sponsorIslam. A Khomeini Centre opens, the Koran is law and freedom is eliminated as Hedda and Margery don chadhors. The novel's jaunty cynicism and Monty Pythonesque shenanigans address a serious point.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:

The first line of Parkin's satiric new novel sets the tone: "It was the first day of Michaelmas term and acid rain was falling on the campus." As he did in his highly acclaimed debut, Krippendorf's Tribe ( LJ 2/1/86), Parkin wickedly skewers British academics and university life. The story is set in the very near future when professors are no longer valued for their knowledge or teaching skill but for their flair for raising money and tailoring research to suit corporate sponsors. Professor Hambro, philosophy dean, opens the "Mind and Body Shop" in the red light district, where courses on Kant and Kierkegaard are offered along with more titillating goods. Naturally, the department flourishes. Rich with British eccentrics and ribald humor, this hilarious new novel should win Parkin new fans. Laurence Hull, Cannon Memorial Lib., Concord, N.C.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Laurel
• Publication date: 1988
• ISBN 10: 0440201837
• ISBN 13: 9780440201830
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback