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Straight Man ::
Character, it is said, is at the heart of any good story. When looked at in this respect, good storytelling is less about the relaying of events, and more about creating compelling characters to whom those events occur. Were we to accept this supposition as true, I think we could use Straight Man as a perfect piece of evidence to further our case. Because while there is a definite lack of significant events in this novel, I found myself tearing through it, wanting to find out just what was going to happen next.
This is both because I found a certain affection for the hero, William Henry Deveraux, Jr. An English Professor, Deveraux found himself chairing the department, which was in financial ruin. On top of dealing with the almost daily grievances that were filed against him by his colleagues (many of which may have been justified, even if those filing them were incorrigibly whiney), he was also dealing with a lack of a budget for the next semester, constant rumors that there was in a list of professors who would be laid off in the coming months being circulated by high members of the administration, and the simple fact that he just didn’t want this responsibility. Not to mention the fact that he could not pee and he was convinced it was the result of a kidney stone. To further confound his already-exasperated cohorts (and the reader, quite frankly), our hero threatens to execute a goose on local television. Though I cringed at just about everything he did, I also felt there was a certain plausibility to his behavior. I could identify with his contempt for authority, his resentment of the fact that he was in this position of power that he did not want, but also with his undeterred humor and the overwhelming sadness and despair undermined.
So, though nothing hugely tragic happens in this novel, and we find that the main character works diligently at making sure that events do not progress (seems that would be rather counter-productive to the development of a narrative, no?) I wanted to read Straight Man constantly, and once it was over, I couldn’t help but wish William Henry Deveraux Jr. luck in his quest to keep his life normal, predictable, and uproariously funny.
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