The Shakespeare requirement

Description

Jason Fitger becomes chair of the English Department at Payne University just as its institutional standing and physical territory begin to shrink. The prosperous Economics Department wants more office space, the dean controls Fitger’s proposed initiatives, and the dean’s relationship with Fitger’s ex-wife makes every negotiation more personal. Within English, the formidable secretary Fran knows more than she reveals and wields authority beyond her job description. Fitger’s attempt to push a Shakespeare scholar into retirement then erupts into a public dispute over whether Shakespeare should remain central to the curriculum. This campus satire follows an irritable, embattled administrator through budgets, faculty politics, old resentments, and the larger question of what the humanities can still claim from a university.

Themes