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.
Dear Committee Members
His department is facing draconian cuts and squalid quarters, while one floor above them the Economi cs Department is getting lavishly remodelled 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.
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.