The dark academia genre overlaps aggressively with the realm of fantasy. This is because the remarkably gatekept world of elite education is out of reach for much of the population.
Even those who have fought tooth and nail to make it into prestigious academic institutions have often failed to claw their way into the deepest circles of the societal elite. It’s what makes the hallowed halls of ancient universities so fascinating to avid readers, and so rife for literary imagination.
