# Help me ID this novel? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 5, 2013, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-this-novel/654915 "2013-04-05T13:33:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-this-novel/654915/1 "2013-04-05T13:33:42Z")
Several years ago I read a book that I really enjoyed, but I can’t remember the title. It was in first person, the protagonist was the chair of a university English department, and a lot of the novel was taken up with petty university politics, but also some stuff about the narrator’s home life. It ends with the narrator and his “arch enemy” in the department having a quiet laugh together about how silly everyone else was being. The novel was really funny to my recollection. Iunno… is this enough to identify it? One memorable scene I remember involved the protagonist hiding in the A/C ducts to listen in on a meeting the rest of the department was having without him. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-this-novel/654915/2 "2013-04-05T14:02:50Z")
[_Straight Man_ by Richard Russo.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight_Man) One of the funniest books I’ve ever read. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-this-novel/654915/3 "2013-04-05T15:15:03Z")
Thanks, that was it!