This is one of my trad paperbacks that I first finished Fr 11/16/02 on a day off. In the flyleaf I had written, 'Best novel I've read in ages'. And, after the second reading I still agree absolutely.
PREMISE:
A look at the life of William Henry Devereaux, Jr. (Hank) who is the chairman of the English department of a small college in west central Pennsylvania. He has a kind of snide, quirky manner and he never takes anything very seriously, although his life is unwinding before his eyes.
***His nose is mangled during a staff meeting when one of his female teachers hits him with a notebook and the spiral catches one of his nostrils.
***His wife is away and probably having an affair with his dean
***One or more of his staff is eager for an affair with him
***The high-point (?) is when he threatens to execute a goose unless he gets the budget his department requires. Hilarious and compassionate simultaneously.
Much of the novel might have been based on Russo's teaching career at Southern Illinois at Carbondale, IL.
From the book's page at Wikipedia:
"Straight Man (New York: Random House, 1997) is a novel by Richard Russo set at the fictional West Central Pennsylvania University in Railton, Pennsylvania. It is a mid-life crisis tale told in the first person by William Henry Devereaux Jr., the unlikely interim chairman of the English department. Notable moments include the chairman's hiding in the rafters as the faculty vote on his dismissal, his threat of killing a campus pond goose every day until the department receives a budget, flirtations between faculty and students, satires on academic scholarship and stardom, and love and health in the season of grace. It is rumored that the material for this book came from Russo's experiences teaching at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Southern Connecticut State University or at Penn State Altoona."
The author's page at Wikipedia:
The theme is that a man who has never taken anything seriously finally must make a stand. This doesn't mean that he has to do anything, but it's more like he just must 'let go' and accept his life,
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