Straight Man
by Richard Russo · first published 1997
3mentions
1recommended by
2HN commenters
2010–2025first – last mentioned
50% recommend50% neutral
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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Book: Straight Man, by Richard Russo Why? It was funny. Might appeal more to those of us who have experienced academia.
on “Ask HN: Best book you read in 2010 and briefly why” ↗Yes! Also Richard Russo's "Straight Man", which might be my favorite of all these novels about campus life.
on “David Lodge, British novelist who satirized academic life, has died” ↗What is the source for a book description? I ask because I just started listening to "Straight Man" by Richard Russo and looked it up on Shepherd. Shepherd mentions that "Straight Man" is being made into a TV series. That's out of date and Wikipedia has the up to date info (one season of a series…
on “Show HN: Shepherd 3.0 – Like wandering the aisles of your favorite bookstore” ↗