I'm looking for representations of university life and academia in fantasy literature. This is more late medieval to renaissance than most fantasy, but I know of a handful of examples and I'd like to have more on hand. I'd also be keen on representations of the birth of scientific thinking, even if it's not set in a university, if it isn't of the gnomes-inventing-wacky-anachronisms variety.
A few coming to my mind, like the maesters in ASoIaF, which I'm interested in seeing developed further when Sam's plot picks back up, and the middlest section of Canticle for Liebowitz, where the conflict between secular and monastic educations re-emerges in the world. But it's China Mieville's fantasy work that stirred my thinking. He often features characters on the outskirts of academia or whose educational experience is the equivalent of a higher degree. Sometimes their work is glossed over (Bellis in The Scar) with a few colorful technical terms thrown in, and sometimes more integral to a plot (Isaac in Perdido).
If you could add any other examples (and consequently, add to my reading list), it'd be much appreciated.
A few coming to my mind, like the maesters in ASoIaF, which I'm interested in seeing developed further when Sam's plot picks back up, and the middlest section of Canticle for Liebowitz, where the conflict between secular and monastic educations re-emerges in the world. But it's China Mieville's fantasy work that stirred my thinking. He often features characters on the outskirts of academia or whose educational experience is the equivalent of a higher degree. Sometimes their work is glossed over (Bellis in The Scar) with a few colorful technical terms thrown in, and sometimes more integral to a plot (Isaac in Perdido).
If you could add any other examples (and consequently, add to my reading list), it'd be much appreciated.