Ever read a novel about an aging professor who has an affair or who excitedly falls in love after years of boredom?

Today the film “Elegy” opens, reminding readers that there is practically a subgenre in this subject.

“Elegy” is based on Philip Roth’s “The Dying Animal,” a novella. I read it a few years ago and found the main character tiresome. (Although I was much taken with another book in that vein by J.M. Coetzee). 

Although Coetzee’s professor wasn’t all that sympathetic either, I found him more interesting. Of course maybe it was something else in the story - the language or other themes.

Anyway, here are a few more novels that feature wayward professors or aging professors who find love. Have any to add to this list?

“Disgrace” by J.M. Coetzee

“Blue Angel” By Francine Prose (some people say this is quite funny, but I remember the English professor who has as crush on a student as rather pitiful.)

“The Professor of Desire” by Philip Roth (same protagonist as in “The Dying Animal,” just younger; “The Human Stain” and more)

“Moo” by Jane Smiley (this one’s actually humorous, and I’m sure there was a philandering professor or two in the huge cast of characters)

“Changing Places” by David Lodge (Lodge has others, I think and a new one in September about an aging professor who falls for a grad student. supposed to be funny. “Deaf Sentence” comes out Sept. 22)