R.F. Kuang's 'Katabasis' Satirizes Academia Through Hellish Campus Odyssey

R.F. Kuang's sixth novel 'Katabasis' presents a 500-page fantasy satire of academic life, published by Harper Voyager in October 2025. The story follows Cambridge students Alice and Peter, who study 'Analytic Magick' and descend into Hell to retrieve their deceased supervisor, aiming to complete their PhDs. Hell is depicted as a campus where each level corresponds to university buildings, with Shades navigating library breakdowns and student center excesses. Professor Grimes emerges as a predatory figure who sexually harassed students and stole their research, yet Alice remains psychologically dependent on his approval. Drawing parallels to Dante's Inferno, the novel explores institutional rituals and personal devotion within higher education. Charles Hallisey's 2004 essay comparing education to religion provides conceptual grounding for this institutional critique. Despite its ambitious premise, the book has been criticized for disjointed narrative structure and unresolved plotlines. The work blends heavy-duty Hell research with a saccharine love story, creating what some describe as a 'Chicken Soup for the Soul' tale for graduate students. Available in hardcover for £22, the novel continues Kuang's exploration of competitive intellectual environments and painful stereotypes turned humane.