The Shakespeare Requirement

June 4, 2018
Schumacher’s hilarious latest (after the Thurber Prize–winning Dear Committee Members) follows bumbling, dentally challenged Jason Fitger, the reluctant head of the English department at Payne University. Life just isn’t kind to Fitger, who suffers indignities that include a cramped, wasp-infested office, an acerbic assistant, and having to observe his ex-wife’s relationship with the hapless dean. Even worse, Fitger must create an unlikely alliance among his eccentric group of teachers to unite against Roland Gladwell, an economics professor who has his sights set on eliminating the English department altogether. Fitger attempts to placate the intractable teachers, going as far as allowing one to recover from surgery at his home, while Gladwell continues his march against the humanities. Meanwhile, Fitger’s teachers join together to support Angela, one of the top freshmen who truly cares about learning, yet gets caught in a mess and needs their assistance. Shumacher’s satisfying and fun novel is bolstered by its memorable campus setting and its quirky cast.

June 1, 2018
Beleaguered English professor Jason Fitger, the unlucky protagonist of the Thurber Prize-winning novel Dear Committee Members (2014), returns to Payne University to fight another day.Schumacher (English/The Univ. of Minnesota; An Explanation for Chaos, 1997, etc.) abandons the epistolary style of her previous novel for a straight narrative but retains all of its acid satire in a sequel that is far more substantive and just as funny. Our malcontent professor Fitger has been promoted to chair of his deeply dysfunctional English department. But his dwindling domain is in the crosshairs of villainous economics chair Roland Gladwell, who is trying to push English out of the basement of his precious Willard Hall and--if a troubling new quality assurance program comes to fruition--out of the curriculum entirely. Fitger's only allies in his turf war are his ex-wife, Janet Matthias, who is now sleeping with the school's dowdy dean, Philip Hinckler, and Fran Ignatieff, his gladiatorial administrative assistant, who generally hates him. From here, Schumacher throws her accident-prone lead into an unceasing comedy of errors. Fitger's arc includes defending his Literature of the Apocalypse class from accusations that it's "psychologically hostile," an absurd series of quests to convince (read: bribe) his colleagues to sign off on a required "Statement of Vision," and a simmering alliance with Marie Eland, chair of the Consolidated Languages department, who best understands his plight. "It is about staying alive for the length of your term," she says. "Because this is a game for them--for the deans and the provost and the vice provosts: to cut us back and back and back and suppose what we will do. What do you name this? A blood sport." Subplots involving students, among them a naïve freshman, a duplicitous teaching assistant, and an ambitious department intern, are slightly less acerbic, but the Shakespearean drama between departments and colleagues is popcornworthy.A witty but kindhearted academic satire that oscillates between genuine compassion and scathing mockery with admirable dexterity.

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July 1, 2018
No one would envy Jason Fitger. The new chair of the English department at a declining midwestern university has a number of challenges to face in his first year: his counterpart in the opulent economics department is plotting to take over space in their shared building and perhaps even shut down English entirely; his ex-wife is now dating the dean to whom Fitger must appeal for help; a bright student struggling with the adjustment to college becomes his responsibility; and, on top of all that, a perceived threat to the Shakespeare curriculum sparks a campus firestorm. Schumacher satirizes the pitfalls of academia with searing wit, skewering everything from the abominable faculty offices to the eccentric personalities throughout the university. Beneath the comedy lies a tragic commentary on the state of higher education, when money counts for more than scholarship, and power is directly tied to fundraising ability. The Shakespeare Requirement offers a desperately funny take on campus foibles, as Schumacher stretches reality to the boundaries of absurdity in this raucous underdog tale.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

Starred review from June 1, 2018
Beleaguered English professor Jason Fitger, the unlucky protagonist of the Thurber Prize-winning novel Dear Committee Members (2014), returns to Payne University to fight another day.Schumacher (English/The Univ. of Minnesota; An Explanation for Chaos, 1997, etc.) abandons the epistolary style of her previous novel for a straight narrative but retains all of its acid satire in a sequel that is far more substantive and just as funny. Our malcontent professor Fitger has been promoted to chair of his deeply dysfunctional English department. But his dwindling domain is in the crosshairs of villainous economics chair Roland Gladwell, who is trying to push English out of the basement of his precious Willard Hall and--if a troubling new quality assurance program comes to fruition--out of the curriculum entirely. Fitger's only allies in his turf war are his ex-wife, Janet Matthias, who is now sleeping with the school's dowdy dean, Philip Hinckler, and Fran Ignatieff, his gladiatorial administrative assistant, who generally hates him. From here, Schumacher throws her accident-prone lead into an unceasing comedy of errors. Fitger's arc includes defending his Literature of the Apocalypse class from accusations that it's "psychologically hostile," an absurd series of quests to convince (read: bribe) his colleagues to sign off on a required "Statement of Vision," and a simmering alliance with Marie Eland, chair of the Consolidated Languages department, who best understands his plight. "It is about staying alive for the length of your term," she says. "Because this is a game for them--for the deans and the provost and the vice provosts: to cut us back and back and back and suppose what we will do. What do you name this? A blood sport." Subplots involving students, among them a na�ve freshman, a duplicitous teaching assistant, and an ambitious department intern, are slightly less acerbic, but the Shakespearean drama between departments and colleagues is popcornworthy.A witty but kindhearted academic satire that oscillates between genuine compassion and scathing mockery with admirable dexterity.

COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from August 1, 2018

This sequel to the award-winning Dear Committee Members finds Jason Fitger, professor of English at Payne University, in an academic pickle. Elected chair of the English department, he discovers his annual budget is withheld until the department's statement of vision (SOV) has been submitted. His faculty must approve the SOV unanimously, requiring Fitger to horse-trade schedules, class offerings, committee appointments, problem students, and infrastructure improvements with each member. Meanwhile, the rapacious chair of economics is maneuvering to take over the space currently allocated to English. Fitger's staff assistant has him caring for a mangy dog, an ailing faculty member needs a place to recover from surgery, a pregnant student needs counseling--all in a day's work for a department head. In this wicked satire of the inner workings of the academy, Schumacher brings to life stereotypes that will be recognizable to anyone who has had a position on a college campus. VERDICT For readers who appreciate humor and the absurd as well as academics--although the latter may not know whether to laugh or cry. Highly recommended.--Joanna Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Libs., Providence

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