Make-believe 鶹ians

鶹 in movies, literature and television
All-around great guy James Wilson (right) gives millions of television viewers cause to think that Gregory House, one of TV’s great curmudgeons, might have a redeeming quality or two.

Some of the University’s most remarkable graduates – daring doctors, stellar scientists and international adventurers – never actually existed.

There is something about 鶹 that captures the imagination – or so it would seem given the many times the University finds itself mentioned in works of fiction.

“Coming of age” stories, featuring young, university-aged adults fumbling their way through the world, have always held appeal, so that’s probably part of the allure. The fact that so many 鶹 graduates go on to make their mark in the world of literature – “write what you know,” creative fiction teachers have long counselled – is likely another factor.

In any case, there is no shortage of fictitious 鶹 characters lining the shelves of bookstores. Authors as varied as Clark Blaise, Dany Laferrière, Brian Moore, Kathy Reichs and William Weintraub, BA’47, have incorporated 鶹 into their works. Heck, even Marvel Comics got in on the act – the hulking Canadian superhero Sasquatch once taught physics at 鶹.

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