On Writing and College Life: Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl as a Campus Novel

In 2022, Rainbow Rowell’s Bildungsroman Fangirl (2013), listed among 10 recent campus novels by Michelle Carroll on PowellsBooks.Blog, may seem a somewhat nostalgic text, as it is set at the University of Nebraska in the 2011/12 academic year. While Fangirl has also been classified as a young adult novel, as a chronicle of the protagonist’s, Cath’s, first year at college, it may arouse memories of a comparable experience in any college graduate, academics included. Like many classic campus novels, Fangirl is concerned with the writing process, as the storyline focuses on a creative writing course Cath takes in her first semester. An author of fanfiction based on a Harry Potteresque fantasy, Cath submits a piece of her fanfiction as an assignment, and is shocked to be accused of plagiarism by her professor. Gradually, Cath’s progression to writing a different short story for the course parallels her learning to deal with family problems as well as her anxiety in the college environment that is new to her. In turn, not only does the novel not completely idealize college life, but it also highlights Cath’s need to negotiate her obligations as a student and her responsibilities outside campus.