The tale maker

the long version

Set in academe, in an unnamed city, The Tale Maker, by Mark Harris, features the careening careers and psyches, lusts and ambitions of two men - one named Rimrose, a brilliant student and teacher and widely respected author who manages to foul up everything until a final victory over his long-time antagonist named Kakapick, a voyeur of life, pitiful and yet able to win out over Rimrose in the absurdly bureaucratic and stratified atmosphere of The University - until, that is, life gets the better of him. . The Tale Maker is Mark Harris, author of the classic Bang the Drum Slowly tetralogy, at the top of his form, writing with a wit and bite and irony that sets him squarely alongside such as Saul Bellow, Phillip Roth and John Irving.