The Devon School is a fictional school created by author John Knowles in the novels A Separate Peace and Peace Breaks Out. It is based on Knowles' alma mater, Phillips Exeter Academy. Like Phillips Exeter during World War II, Devon is a boys' boarding school in New Hampshire. Knowles places the school in a town that bears its name, specifically at the head of a quaint residential street called Gilman Street. The school "emerged naturally from the town which had produced it." A Separate Peace covers the summer of 1942 and the Winter Session of 1942-1943. The senior year students are being prepared for the war. The timeframe in Peace Breaks Out is 1946-1947. In both of these books, Devon is portrayed as a boys' preparatory school, just as Phillips Exeter was at the time; although Phillips Exeter is today a co-educational school. The Devon School is one of the most prominent fictional examples of a total institution.
Read more about The Devon School: Description, Dormitories, Faculty, A Separate Peace, Students, A Separate Peace, Faculty, Peace Breaks Out, Students, Peace Breaks Out (Class of 1946)
Famous quotes containing the word school:
“I’m not making light of prayers here, but of so-called school prayer, which bears as much resemblance to real spiritual experience as that freeze-dried astronaut food bears to a nice standing rib roast. From what I remember of praying in school, it was almost an insult to God, a rote exercise in moving your mouth while daydreaming or checking out the cutest boy in the seventh grade that was a far, far cry from soul-searching.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)