The Dean (Foreign Literature / Polar), Paperback Book, By: Gustafsson, Lars

A manuscript written by a philosopher named Spencer C. Spencer is found after his death. It deals with the ambiguous relationship he had with the dean of the University of Austin in Texas, where he is assessor, Professor Paul Chapman, nailed in a wheelchair since the Vietnam War. Despite the dialogue that has established between the two men, the dean remains an enigmatic figure for the narrator. A certain violence gradually penetrates into the story, through characters who resurface from the past: Mary Elizabeth, Spencer's lover, whom his cousin Derek has thrilled him, and the annoying Douglas Melvin Smith, who fought alongside the dean and who wants to discuss with him at all costs. The dean and his assessor begin to agreement to serve each other in order to get rid of the one who seduced the bride, and the one who asks too many questions. But the balance of power between the two men pushes Spencer to an unforeseen murder.