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«Academia in Fact and Fiction» comprises twenty-eight essays on the relationship(s) between the university and the practice of belles lettres. The collection includes studies of the teaching of fiction by university professors; the fit – or misfit – between the creative writer and the academy; the depiction of the university, its staff and atmosphere, in literature, cinema and new media; and the varieties of academic fiction ranging from the ludic and satirical to the tragic. Most of the works addressed in the volume are British or American, modern or contemporary, but the historical range extends to Victorian and Shakespearian works, and the geographical range includes novels and poems from Russia, New Zealand, and Nigeria. Among the genres discussed are, in addition to the «literary novel», plays, detective fiction, fanfiction, utopias, mysteries and alternative history. The contributors are international and cosmopolitan.

Spectres of Utopia. Theory, Practice, Conventions introduces the latest trends in utopian studies, displaying a wide variety of theoretical perspectives as well as social, political, and cultural practices ranging from intentional communities and globalization to literary and cinematic utopias and dystopias. The contributors, who come from different disciplinary backgrounds, attempt to redefine not only the basic concepts of utopia, dystopia, and anti-utopia but also utopian studies as a whole, applying new conceptual and philosophical paradigms in the wake of the downfall of communism and the crisis of the traditional forms of Western democracy.