Straight Man

Literary fiction · Comedy · Dark comedy · Satire

First published: 1997
Print length: 391 pagesVintage, 1998

Description

At the fictional West Central Pennsylvania University in Railton, William Henry Devereaux Jr. is improbably serving as interim chair of the English department while undergoing a midlife crisis. Over one chaotic week, budget pressure and an unstable position compound turmoil involving his marriage, his dean, his secretary’s writing, and his celebrated literary father. He hides in the rafters while faculty members consider dismissing him and threatens to kill a campus duck each day until his department receives funding. Richard Russo uses these escalating predicaments to satirize academic prestige, scholarship, and relationships between faculty and students.

Reading profile

About this profile

Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).

Writing: How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas: How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure: How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge: Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity: Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.

Writing style

Conversational · Dialogue-driven · Witty

Pace

Brisk

Tone

Humorous · Satirical · Warm · Wistful

Structure

Linear

Focus

Character · Plot · Relationships

Emotional intensity

3 / 5

Reading complexity

1–5 · higher means more demanding

Writing: 3 / 5
Ideas: 3 / 5
Structure: 2 / 5
Background knowledge: 1 / 5

Themes

AgingAmbitionArt and creativityFamilyMarriageWork

About Richard Russo

Richard Russo is an American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter whose fiction is rooted in the small towns of the Northeast, especially Maine, Pennsylvania, and upstate New York. He writes about communities narrowed by economic decline, precarious work, and inherited obligations, tracing how local institutions and family histories keep people bound to one another. His prose is conversational and sharply comic, with character revealed through dialogue, stubborn routines, and conflicts that steadily accumulate. In Empire Falls, a diner manager’s dependence on the family that controls his declining Maine town opens onto questions of economic power, memory, and loyalty. Nobody’s Fool works through similar pressures in a comic chain of odd jobs, damaged friendships, and encounters between an evasive father and his estranged son. Russo can also turn his attention to institutional comedy. Straight Man compresses a university department’s rivalries and budget panic into one chaotic week, using escalating farce while attending to marriage, aging, and professional disappointment.

Book details

For the print edition listed above.

Publisher: Vintage
Language: English
ISBN: 9780375701900

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