The Perlmann crisis of the academic world
The Perlmann crisis of the academic world

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses the crisis of academia depicted in the novel Perlmanns Schweigen by Pascal Mercier (1995; Eng. trans. Perlmann’s Silence, 2012). It also examines the question of the novel’s genre classification. Perlmann’s burnout is represented by a web of motifs – such as losing one’s sense of purpose in regard to teaching and research work, competitive struggles such as popularity contests and number of publications, the inaccessible nature of the humanities, the commercialization of research, the contradiction between the philosophy of science and the practice of research work. We consider these to be distinctive because in the 1990s the repeating motifs unmasked the internal decay of the academic tradition along with the identity of the academic teacher or professor. It showed how the academic environment reacts to new trends in university education by distorting academic values and scientific research. In effect, this problem emerged because quality was exchanged for quantity, scientific respectability for social prestige and popularity. Thus the motifs are specifically concerned with the decline caused by the capitalization of academia, research work, and the subsequent thinking of teachers within the profession.

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