The Wayward Professor

"A refreshing delight! Gold has the knack. His comedy rings true. . . . It’s good-humored wit."—Robert Manson Myers, winner of the National Book Award for The Children of Pride, and author of From Beowulf to Virginia Woolf

"This is wry, self-deprecating, lightly satiric writing. The Wayward Professor is a persona whom we come to like and upon whom we come to depend. Gold has that peculiarly academic blend of innocence and sophistication . . . [and writes with] engaging charm."—Paul Strohm, editor of Academe

"I couldn’t put it down. Genial, reflective, and witty, Horace seems to have been reborn in Joel Gold. As for an academic life in the late 20th century, this must be the best version we're likely to have of the career, the rituals, the students, the classes, the meetings, the parties, and the sabbaticals. I found more in these stories than in ten books on The American Mind and Higher Education. Reading The Wayward Professor is even better than living the academic life!"—R. G. Peterson, Executive Secretary, American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies