University of Psychogenic Fugue, sometimes abbreviated to UPF, is a satirical humor book in the form of a parody college course catalog for a fictional American University written by Tye R Farrell and Jeffrey Morrow. It was published by Meteorite Press in 2002. Its subtitle is "A Course Catalog for Students of Life".
The book dryly satirizes the 21st century college experience and the foibles of modern life through hundreds of "classes" in 15 "departments" of study, including Glamour, Suburban Science, Life Science, and Love. In addition, the book describes fictional scholarships, grants, university buildings, and meaingless complex policies. There are also numerous campus clubs, fraternities and sororities, including Gamma Lambda Ding Dong and Eradicate Ugliness Worldwide. The book's sometimes cynical humor has been described as similar to The Onion.
The University's name comes from a psychological condition, psychogenic fugue, in which a person is unable to remember his or her past. The term psychogenic fugue was recategorized as dissociative fugue so now (according to the authors) it is a state of mind that doesn't exist. This attitude reflects many of the mock course offerings you're not likely to encounter in traditional higher education, including:
- Glamour 106: Build a Better Supermodel
- Business 112: Advanced Drug Dealing
- Life Science 599: Postmodern Coffee
- Love 214: Valentine's Day Sabotage
- Suburban Science 244: How to be a Carnie
- Culinary Arts 105: Living Without Food
- Generally Accepted Science 131: Cadaver Farming
- Ethics 102: Living a Lie II
- Communications 121: Calling in Sick
The book received a number of humor and culture awards. Its format has drawn attention from diverse sources, from the Chronicle of Higher Education to counterculture magazine High Times, as well as college and internet press.
UPF also hosts an online satirical counterpart where web surfers can learn more about the University and its programs of study.
Famous quotes containing the words university of, university and/or fugue:
“In bourgeois society, the French and the industrial revolution transformed the authorization of political space. The political revolution put an end to the formalized hierarchy of the ancien regimé.... Concurrently, the industrial revolution subverted the social hierarchy upon which the old political space was based. It transformed the experience of society from one of vertical hierarchy to one of horizontal class stratification.”
—Donald M. Lowe, U.S. historian, educator. History of Bourgeois Perception, ch. 4, University of Chicago Press (1982)
“In the United States, it is now possible for a person eighteen years of age, female as well as male, to graduate from high school, college, or university without ever having cared for, or even held, a baby; without ever having comforted or assisted another human being who really needed help. . . . No society can long sustain itself unless its members have learned the sensitivities, motivations, and skills involved in assisting and caring for other human beings.”
—Urie Bronfenbrenner (b. 1917)
“The worst constructed play is a Bach fugue when compared to life.”
—Helen Hayes (1900–1993)