- Fiction, College teachers, Midlife crisis, Middle aged men
William Henry Devereaux, Jr., spiritually suited to playing left field but forced by a bad hamstring to try first base, is the unlikely chairman of the English department at West Central Pennsylvania University. Over the course of a single convoluted week, he threatens to execute a goose, has his nose slashed by a feminist poet, discovers that his secretary writes better fiction than he does, suspects his wife of having an affair with his dean, and finally confronts his philandering elderly father, the one-time king of American Literary Theory, at an abandoned amusement park.
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Character
Contemporary, classical in form, comic and spare.
- contemporarynostalgic
- classical in formformally daring
- gravecomic
- sparerichly built
- contemplativerelentless
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About the book
- Author
- Richard Russo
- First published
- August 29, 2002
- Pages
- 404
- Publisher
- Random House, Books on Tape, 10/18
- Editions
- 14
- Language
- French, tur, English
- ISBN
- 9780375701900
Where to read
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On Open Library, 12 have read it and 31 want to.
“When my nose finally stops bleeding and I've disposed of the bloody paper towels, Teddy Barnes insists on driving me home in his ancient Honda Civic, a car that refuses to die and that Teddy, cheap as he is, refuses to trade in.”
Richard Russo (born July 15, 1949) is an American novelist, short story writer, screenwriter, and teacher. In 2002, he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for his novel *Empire Falls.* Several of his works have been adapted into television series and movies. He is known for his realistic depictions of rural, small-town life in the Northeastern United States, particularly in Maine, Pennsylvania, and Russo's native Upstate New York.
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