52 pages • 1 hour read
You Belong Here
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Background
Content Warning: This section of the guide contains depictions of death, violence, harassment, and bullying.
Literary Context: You Belong Here and the Emergence of Dark Academia
Dark academia is a contemporary genre. While the term describes a general aesthetic involving gothic university architecture, autumnal or wintery atmospheres, and academic clothing styles, it also refers to a literary subgenre. As the name indicates, dark academia highlights the “darkness” behind prestigious schools, often incorporating elements of mystery or suspense while engaging in discussions of class.
In You Belong Here, Wyatt College is an esteemed institution, and its opulent allure causes conflict with the less well-off townspeople. Beckett’s and Delilah’s college experiences don’t center on a top-tier education but scandal. Beckett’s involvement with a crime on campus contaminates her college career and her life beyond college. Pointedly, until individuals after the fact manage to expose the crime, Beckett escapes justice due to her parents’ positions at the college, highlighting her class privilege and the way it allows her opportunities others lack. While some criticize dark academia for romanticizing elitist education, Miranda’s novel subverts the stock assumption that such schools are paragons of enlightenment. Miranda presents the prestigious school as a toxic site, where the students, parents, and professors hurt, deceive, and kill.
An early, retroactive example of dark academia is Brideshead Revisited (1945) by the English novelist Evelyn Waugh.
