Dear Committee Members: A Novel

"Among my favorite novels are David Lodge’s Small World, Richard Russo’s Straight Man and James Hynes’ The Lecturer’s Tale: all academic satires. I also greatly enjoy epistolary novels like Steve Kluger’s Last Days of Summer; Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn, and 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff (arguably, not a novel). And when I discover an epistolary academic satire — a collection of letters of recommendation from Jason Fitger, a literature and creative writing professor at a second-rate college — I feel as though I’ve hit the reading jackpot."