The Lecturer’s Tale, by James Hynes

James Hynes is a master of the macabre, and in The Lecturer’s Tale he turns his eye on the English Department at a large Midwestern University. Nelson Humboldt’s promising career as a professor has faded away, and he is reduced to teaching composition classes to the dregs of the English Department. Even here, Humboldt is a failure though, and his department head, Victoria Victorinix, lets Nelson know that he is no longer needed. Just after his ignominious dismissal, Humboldt loses his right index finger in a freak bicycle accident. When the finger is re-attached, he discovers that with one touch of the finger, which channels his anger, he can control a person’s behavior. He uses his new power, first to regain his position, then to get vengeance on his colleagues. Nelson’s abuse of power, however, is not without consequences. The story climaxes in a over the top scene in the tower of the university library that changes both Humboldt’s future and the face of the school. No trend in contemporary English theory is spared Hynes’s withering glance, and much of the humor in the book comes from the spotlight Hynes turns on academic pretensions, Hynes provides fascinating blend of horror, literary references, and satire.

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