description The War Between the Tates Overview
"The War Between the Tates" is a campus novel written by Alison Lurie and published in 1974. The story serves as a satirical examination of American academic life during the late 1960s. It is set at a fictional university in upstate New York that closely resembles Cornell University, where Lurie was a professor. The plot follows the dissolution of a tenured professor's marriage as it is disrupted by extramarital affairs, student radicalism, and the changing sexual politics of the era.
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When was The War Between the Tates published, and where is it set?
Alison Lurie's campus novel was published by Random House in 1974 and is set at the fictional Corinth University in upstate New York. Corinth is widely understood to draw on Cornell University and Ithaca, where Lurie taught, as described in the [novel's background](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_Between_the_Tates).
What is the plot of The War Between the Tates?
The story follows academic couple Brian and Erica Tate as their marriage breaks down after Brian begins an affair with graduate student Wendy Gahaghan. Their family also includes teenagers Jeffrey and Matilda, so the novel combines marital conflict with generational tension.
What 1960s issues does The War Between the Tates satirize?
The novel uses campus unrest to examine the Vietnam War, feminism, sexual liberation, the generation gap, drug experimentation, and student protest. Its setting in the late 1960s places Brian and Erica's private crisis inside the wider upheaval of American academic life.
Is The War Between the Tates written as a collection of letters?
No, despite some catalog classifications, it is a conventional third-person campus novel rather than a book made mainly from letters or reports. Its 1974 narrative follows Brian, Erica, their children, and the university community through the breakdown of the Tate marriage.
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