Dear Committee Members“Like Richard Russo’s Straight Man this book has a lot to say about the humanities in American colleges and universities…. Very funny and also moving.” —Tom Perrotta, New York Post A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: NPR and Boston Globe Finally a novel that puts the "pissed" back into "epistolary." Jason Fitger is a beleaguered professor of creative writing and literature at Payne University, a small and not very distinguished liberal arts college in the midwest. His department is facing draconian cuts and squalid quarters, while one floor above them the Economics Department is getting lavishly remodeled offices. His once-promising writing career is in the doldrums, as is his romantic life, in part as the result of his unwise use of his private affairs for his novels. His star (he thinks) student can't catch a break with his brilliant (he thinks) work Accountant in a Bordello, based on Melville's Bartleby. In short, his life is a tale of woe, and the vehicle this droll and inventive novel uses to tell that tale is a series of hilarious letters of recommendation that Fitger is endlessly called upon by his students and colleagues to produce, each one of which is a small masterpiece of high dudgeon, low spirits, and passive-aggressive strategies. We recommend Dear Committee Members to you in the strongest possible terms. Don’t miss Julie Schumacher's new novel, The English Experience, coming soon. |
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academic advisee advisor Alphabetical Stars application asked Auden Award Bartleby behalf Bentham Literary Residency Box 1572 Bentham Browles's campus Carole Samarkind chair colleagues College Creative Writing Workshop currently Darren Browles Dean Dear Committee Members Department of English desk e-mail English Payne University Eshe ex-wife favor fiction Fitger Professor Folkstone Franklin Kentrell funding George Fitzgerald Hall Dear Hanf Hinckler hire Hoch-Dunn hope Janet Jay Fitger Jay P.S. Julie Schumacher Ken Doyle law school letter recommends Literary Residency Program literature Madelyne ment Napp novel Pazmentalyi Pentalion person Pitlinger Professor of Creative Program P.O. Box request Residency Program P.O. Ruefle semester Seminar Shepardville Slavic Languages Stain story Student Services/Fellowship Office sure Tappani tell tion Transfer of Affection Troy Troy's U.S. Postal Service undergraduate Vang Vivian Zelles week Willard Hall William Gass Writing and English young