Walter Kirn is Lost in the Meritocracy

In his upcoming book Lost in the Meritocracy: The Undereducation of an Overachiever, novelist Walter Kirn '83 writes about his experience at  Princeton, where, as he said in an interview with the Chicago Maroon, he felt "alienated among the indoctrinated."The book description on Amazon describes the university as:

an arena for gamesmanship, snobbery, social climbing, ass-kissing, and recreational drug use, where the point of literature classes was to mirror the instructor's critical theories and actual reading of the books under consideration was optional.

Compare that to a comment on an article in the Daily Princetonian posted today:

who comes to pton to "learn"? pton is a means for the end that is employment with a high salary/status/etc. with this ridiculous deflation policy, cheating will only increase as people realize that in the real world, no one cares about your "honor" but rather your gpa.

Huh.Our favorite excerpt from Kirn's article "Lost in the Meritocracy", published in the Atlantic in 2005:

"Remove the blindfold," Leslie said.When I raised my dazzled eyes, I saw, about fifty yards in front of me, surrounded by stately trees, an actual castle, with countless tall windows and pediments and columns. In the center of its crescent driveway stood an enormous dry fountain of leaping cupids."My family's estate," Leslie said. "Behold, poor serf! Behold a power you will never know!"With that he ran back to his car and drove away.

Oh my god, what? In what world does that happen?We want to know, what's been your most absurd Princeton experience?