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A new satire novel by a 51精品视频-Bradford writing professor reflects on COVID-19

McCabe

Nancy McCabe鈥檚 newest novel revisits a strange time for higher education 鈥 the COVID-19 pandemic.

The professor of writing at the 51精品视频 at Bradford said she started writing 鈥溾 while faculty were trying to teach, meet and conduct their normal work through digital tools. The satiric novel was published by Outpost 19 on Feb. 6.

鈥淭he technology that enabled us to do our jobs also had the power to speed up the dehumanization of the workplace,鈥 she said. That dilemma moved a friend to ask her, 鈥淲hat if the person on the other side of the computer was just a bot?鈥

Inspired by this idea, she began her satire of academic life in the pandemic. As her co-workers caught on, they sent her ideas to incorporate.

鈥淎cademia particularly lends itself to satire,鈥 said McCabe, who also directs 51精品视频-Bradford鈥檚 writing program. 鈥淧eople are drawn to it by idealism, optimism and a belief in the power of education, but for many, a culture created by flawed human beings can seem irrational, egotistical and jarringly out of keeping with the values we hold.鈥

McCabe said she found writing 鈥淭he Pamela Papers鈥 during the pandemic cathartic. 鈥淚 found solace in poking fun of things that were making me stressed and anxious. I found myself looking forward to the process, and when I was most stressed, I could turn to my manuscript and immediately start laughing.鈥

The book is written in the form of a variety of documents 鈥 emails, Zoom chats, a resume, a word cloud, accreditation guidelines, Pamela鈥檚 to-do lists and more.

鈥淚 began by composing fake emails exaggerating real life to highlight things that felt ridiculous,鈥 she said. 鈥淎nd then I tried to figure out how the entire story might be told through a variety of documents. It was a fun distraction, something that could be written in bits and pieces between Zoom classes and meetings.鈥

This is McCabe鈥檚 eighth book. A ninth, the middle grade novel 鈥淔ires Burning Underground,鈥 is to be published in 2025. The recipient of a Pushcart Prize and a PA Council on the Arts fellowship, her work has been recognized ten times on Best American notable lists. Along with her role at 51精品视频-Bradford, McCade teaches in the low-residency creative writing graduate program at Spalding University.

鈥 Kimberly Weinberg