Foolscap: Or, the Stages of Love

by Michael Malone

Young drama professor Theo Ryan's life is turned upside down when he meets Joshua "Ford" Rexford-America's most acclaimed playwright and the most impossible and most talented man he's ever encountered. Because of Ford's influence, a journey begins that encompasses quirky scholars, bickering university faculty, the Renaissance giant Sir Walter Raleigh and, of course, ingenious plays.

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Academia, Literary Fiction, Novels

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Michael Malone was the author of ten novels, a collection of short stories, and two works of nonfiction. Educated at Carolina and at Harvard, he was a professor in Theater Studies at Duke University. Among his prizes are the Edgar, the O. Henry, the Writers Guild Award, and the Emmy. He lived in Hillsborough, North Carolina, with his wife.

Reviews

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good old fashioned and epic romp with enough literary allusions to keep the most devoted bibliophile happy. Not only funny, but witty as well (not always the same thing). Malone keeps things moving at a remarkable pace without once losing his audience.

I love Malone's work and Hillston Police Chief Cuddy Mangum is one of my all time favorite literary creations but this book has nothing to do with the drama and humor of Hillston. This is one of Malone "journey" books (the other - Handling Sin is also worth reading).

This time the man on the journey (physical and emotional) is Theo Ryan. Mild-mannered? Sure. But is that just guise? Flamboyant and talented playwright Ford Rexford is sure that Theo just needs a small push to bring out the adventurer inside - as so he appropriates Theo's play and Theo's grad student forcing Theo to follow and to come to grips his talent, his past and his feelings. Any parody of academia makes me happy but this one - replete with department power struggles, literary history (did I mention Theo "forged" a lost play by Walter Raleigh?), and a madcap chase across the continents - is a gem.

It is the very embodiment of "hijinks ensue" - a phrase done to death by countless listings in TV Guide but which regains it's true meaning here with style and fun.

[Ty · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book kind of called to me in a used book sale I was strolling through back in October. The promise of stage intrigue, English locations, and even some friendly skewering of academia, college professors and administrators in particular was a draw to me that did not disappoint...for the first ten chapters or so.

Yet after that I began to ask here and there where exactly the author was headed. By the halfway point, the book became guilty of providing too much of a good thing, if you will.

As an actor, Anglophile of sorts, and critic of higher education, I did enjoy the initial references to and satire of all three. Yet more of that piled on top of more, stereotypical character eased into another stereotypical character, and friendly lampooning became repetitive, and then overwhelming at times. It was done with too many characters, far too often, along way too many side roads for the story to hold up.

My quick estimation was that about 10 of the characters and at least three of the incidents in the novel were entirely superfluous, save for the opportunities it afforded the author to satirize something. But no sooner have we gotten to know characters like Jorvelle Wakefield and Steve Weiner than they essentially vanish entirely from the novel, save but a brief mention here and there-including a highly predictable and equally unnecessary final chapter that mentioned, almost in passing, where every character ended up...no matter how small their presence was in the actual story. Who cares?

Not I, after spending 100 pages with people who are then nothing more than a footnote for the remaining 200+ pages. Yet the book ends as though we fell in love with people that really had no time to make an impact.

Bogging things down even more were totally unrelated subplots that were neither entertaining in their own right, nor illustrative of the actual plot. There was, I maintain, not a single thing added to this novel for so much as a moment, by anything having to do with Dean Tupper. (Again, except for a chance to lampoon a football has-been turned bureaucrat.)

I had to put this book down for a few weeks, because I was moving to a new house. But even then, it had been slowing down quite a bit before I stopped, and it took some doing to pick it back up again. Like eating an entire cake on one's own in one sitting, what could have been sweet flavoring for a meal ended up being entirely too much of a good thing.

By the time Foolscap realizes it needs to end the self-indulgent, quasi-literary dalliances it has established over the previous 200 pages, the raison-detre of the book, the forgery, is given the shortest possible shrift. Sentences started to open with phrases such as, "Three months later," or "two years later". This was disappointing, having spent virtually every painstaking moment with every person at Cavendish over a three month period in the first half of the book.

Oddly enough, I enjoyed the Epilogue the most. There the author captures the essence of the beautiful lunacy that is being both a writer and an actor. A glorious mood he strikes but for mere moments throughout the work, but which the jacket seemed to indicate would be present throughout. I admire the message, and the obvious passion with which the author pursued it (eventually). But due to one too many stereotypes, academic references, set pieces, and plain digressions, I can't recommend the book. I think the man who wrote it would probably be more fun to talk to about theatre and writing, than reading his novel that is allegedly about characters doing the same.

[Jim Leckband · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Foolscap" is a great name for this book. It can either mean paper used to print a book, or a jester's hat. Similarly, like all of Malone's books I've read, "Foolscap" has a serious "bookish" point while being jesterly wacky.

Theo Ryan is a Theater professor at a fictional North Carolina university who is having Hamlet problems. He is stuck and doesn't know how to get out of it. Until a writer (not a ghost...yet) comes to town and shakes him out of his funk. Ford Rexford ("Rex": King, "Ford": Crossing) is a redneck playwright on the same caliber as Tennessee Williams and Eugene O'Neill and just as many demons as those two. As I alluded to, he functions as Hamlet's Ghost (the ex-king who is crossing between Heaven and Earth: King Cross => Rexford). Ryan is his biographer, drinking buddy, confidant and Ford is Ryan's coach and kick-in-the-butt.

The plots in the book are many, ludicrous, and involved (in other words, a typical Malone novel.) We have academic intrigue (I'm a sucker for these), theatrical hijinx, American-England comedy, Romantic poetry, Elizabethan theater and an overaching theme of what is authentic. It is no secret that plays are collaborative in their writing. Writers write to what actors will play the parts, where the play will be shown, who the director is etc. And that's not even talking about the changes made in the script as the rehearsing goes on.

So who is the author of a play? In a sense it is the playwright, and in another sense the playwright is only one author. This is "Foolscap"'s more serious point. The fraudulent Raleigh play is dealt with humorously, but I think Malone is saying that if this play is good, it is in effect "written" by Raleigh just as much as because Raleigh made enough of an impact on culture that Theo could emulate/imitate him. The art is produced by the culture as well as by the author. This, of course, is deconstruction in a nutshell - as Malone lets us know with a lot of humorous digs at postmodernism/deconstruction.

[Femomhist · Rating 5 out of 5]

I generally find the book club questions in the back of a book to be pretty damn dreadful, but on this occasion I liked this one:

Many faculty members at Cavendish are referred to by the subject they teach, with or without an actual name. What does this identification method suggest about personal identity and inter-personal relationships in academia?

Malone builds off the trope that All the World's a Stage and introduces a cast of academics, each a type, the African American woman who jokes “I don’t do deconstruction, boy. I do demolition. Didn’t you read that in People magazine I blow up canons" the PoMo feminist lit prof whose book is called the m/other self: discourses of gender de/Construction etc. Malone, like David Lodge with whom he shares many similarities, satirizes contemporary literary theory "objectives of writer entirely beside the point text's intentions irrelevant & author absolutely a goner" The stage is an undistinguished liberal arts college in the South with an improbably huge endowment and buildings designed by IM Pei filled with endowed chairs lured by six figure salaries.


The course of true love never runs smoothly, and triangles abound. The protagonist, Theodore Ryan, aka English Renaissance, finds himself drawn improbably to both the radical cleric, Maude, and the girl friend of his erstwhile BFF, a thinly veiled Sam Sheppard type, famed playwright Ford Rexford. The female foils nailed down, Ryan also find himself in a sort of BroMance triangle between the narcissistic playwright and a New York Jew whose love of Faulkner has landed him in the Carolinas.

Throw in a campus production of Guys and Dolls, a strike in the college’s food services, and some fickle twists of fate, and Ryan is of on a journey of discovery that swings between a reverse Tempest and Hamlet.

Malone has a brilliant ear for language however, and many of his sentences led to tweeting #foolscapVBC, which gave me the idea for my other review. http://femomhist.blogspot.com/2012/02...

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

I bought this after a talk by the author, who was quite charming and inspiring. I picked this particular of his novels kind of at random, and I'm not sure it was the best beginning, though I liked many things about it. The ancillary characters are vivid and interesting, it's often quite funny, and the literary allusions are fun to me, though, I suspect, might work best only with those seriously entwined in literary academia.

Where the book suffers is in it's protagonist and it's pacing. Theo Ryan is pleasant, sure, but he's bland. His only defining characteristic for over half the book is that he worries constantly about people, generally who don't need him to worry about them, and is a really nice pushover. His "romance"--the purported purpose of the novel--felt canned and forced, and never something I really believed in. And the pacing is so weird--I knew a main character was dead about 200 pages before he eventually kicked it, and spent most of those 200 pages waiting for it to happen, and the most interesting part of the plot- the conception and execution of a literary forgery, didn't even begin until the book was halfway over.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a humorous look at academic life from the administrative side--reminded me of "Straight Man" by Richard Russo. There were also serious parts of the story--the friendship between Theo Ryan, professor of English and Joshua "Ford" Rexford, a brilliant yet self-destructive playwright--was very real and very moving. I'm glad I discovered Michael Malone with "Handling Sin"--I need to get going on reading his other books too.

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an enjoyable, and reminds me a little of Robertson Davies' Salterton Trilogy (though Davies is a few levels above Malone). Like Davies, Malone's characters are vain, funny, eccentric, and complex. Also like Davies, Malone finds human touches to add nuance and something approaching compassion for even otherwise unlikeable characters. The sweep of the novel is fun, and threads of the plot blowing about in the wind are nicely and naturally tied together.

[Karry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book a lot, and I regret that we can't give books a half-star because I would certainly rate it a little higher. The author has acadamia nailed and I'm guessing he has also had a lot of experience with actors and the stage. There is a lot to chuckle about and enjoy as the book pokes fun at both university and acting. I particularly enjoyed the conundrum that the characters got into once they decided to "fake" a play by Sir Walter Raleigh, of all people! Good read.

[Patti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Theo Ryan is a drama professor at a well-respected university in North Carolina. He has written several plays but knows that only “Foolscap” has any merit. His friend and renowned playwright Ford Rexford reads the play and helps Theo iron out a few kinks. From here, things take off in some weird directions. I don’t mind reading a madcap adventure now and then, but this book gets bogged down in university politics and petty bickering that I just found to be annoying and not pertinent to the plot. Theo has all the necessary qualities for being a good leading man, and Ford is the stereotypical charismatic literary genius with a drinking problem and a short attention span when it comes to women. The female characters are merely bit players, but my beef is more with the plot than the characters. It’s almost like a comic version of a Dan Brown novel with Sir Walter Raleigh as the historical figure around whom much of the plot revolves. King James I, who ordered the beheading of Sir Walter, is the only dastardly villain here, but even Theo is not immune to the occasional ethical lapse. Ford is certainly not a good role model, but he dominates the narrative with his unpredictable antics, and he’s not part of the whining and gossipy university faculty. He is sort of a modern-day incarnation of Sir Walter Raleigh, although Sir Walter’s vice seems to have been tobacco, not booze.

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A love lorn college professor in a mid-sized college in the North Carolina mountains has been treading water through life. Although smart and handsome and talented he has been more comfortable in the wings rather than on stage. In a number of often very funny set pieces (a department meeting, rehearsals of an amateur production of Guys and Dolls , a rowing regatta among the English elite, drunken escapades with America's greatest living playwright and a Toad worthy manic roadtrip through the English countryside) Theo Ryan learns to not hide his light under a basket while still maintaining the retiring aspects of his personality.

[S D]

"...and the sharp echoing sound of strangers appluading in the dark."

Chapter 1 had me hooked. With it's room of intellectuals with big personalities who can't agree on anything. Then came in Rexford, and I fell in love. And the twist that came halfway through the book shook me to my core.

It's a great book.

Now the bad.

It's long and tends to ramble. It's sentences are a tad too long, and thus whole paragraphs give off the feeling of wandering without a destination. Subplots and side characters thus come out of left field. The writing style is not for me, and it cause some confusion with the plot.

But when the book was good, it was REALLY GOOD.

[Amberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started and finished date - 09.09.25 to 12.09.25.
My rating - Two Stars.
This book was okay, but I found is book to be both dull and boring also I think people who like is book the Material by Camille Bordas or a bright ray of darkness by Ethan Hawke may like is book. The writing was okay, and the writing took some time to get used to also the ending was fine. The atmosphere was okay but bit bland. The paced of plot was well structured and steady paced. The characters was okay but very bland and they needed to be flash out bit more.

[Susan]

There was a time I loved Michael Malone books. But this one left me a little cold. It’s facile in its story telling and humor, but what’s the point? The poor luckless professor of theatre makes out OK in the end? It was years ago, but I think I loved “Handling Sin.” Am I changed? Was it just this book? Was it badly sandwiched between other books I’ve read recently that were rich and thought provoking feasts?

[Mackenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll definitely be recommending this one to every English teacher in the family, theater fan, and literary type I know. It's a comedy, not in the sense that the characters are frequently cracking jokes, but in how each character is often such an overdramatic portrayal of their most prominent character traits. In a way... though it's written as a novel, that makes it feel very much like it could have been a play itself.

[Katherine Reeder · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. It was so intelligently written, with a wry humor, exciting plot with interesting colorful characters, didn't take itself too seriously. Well worth reading more than once.

[Brigid · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Robert Natale]

Someone suggested I read this. I'll get even with them somehow.

[Cassandra Scruton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this, a fun read. A little reminiscent of an American version of a Tom Sharpe novel.

[Andy Todd · Rating 2 out of 5]

Comic romp in university setting. unoriginal but passes the time.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a lifelong theatre person, this was immense fun; as a theatre person who works in a college it hits a little too close to home. An amazing array of characters populate this 5 acts romp through love, life, writing and academia. Life ain't always pretty, but in the end it's so worth it, and so is this delightful book!

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was simply delightful. Nothing weighty, no punch in the gut. Just a slap on the face with a featherduster.

I'm having a hard time remembering - Theo is a big Jew. There's a legendary character named Ford. Theo opens his arms to experience and comes out of the closet (with regard to experiencing life more fully and being a creative artist, not especially with regard to homosexuality). Ford helps him.

Theo acts in a play, falls in love with a beautiful country singer, then writes a play. He decides to fake it that it's old. This plan goes off with just a few hitches.

There are ridiculous and colorful characters and a wise and whimsical narrator's voice and I would wholeheartedly recommend this novel. It's as light and fluffy as banana cream pie.

[Jay Dewey · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first chapter is terrible college-professor-speak, hard to get through pond moss of pedantic speech. After that it gets much easier, or I became a better swimmer. The "hero" is a college professor; the style fits his profession -- even though the lady authors regularly, perhaps hopingly, point to his handsome good looks, his Raleigh-like body, and his charm. The story is imaginative - and I rather liked reading it, though it took me far longer than I would prefer.

I bought the book on a whim at a used-book store, I enjoy the adventure, and sometimes my sifting reveals some real gems; this time only some awesome rocks.

[Mary Frances · Rating 5 out of 5]

My second favorite, or maybe favorite, Malone book. Malone is a great writer- funny, warm, in love with his characters. This book, about Theo, a drama teacher in a southern school who is marking time, is a charmer and more. Theo is awakened from his slumber by a foul-mouthed playwriting genius, a strong, loving country music singer, and a cast of great and funny supporting characters. It's also a great comedy of manners about life in academia. Just writing this review makes me want to pull it off the shelf and read it again.

And I did. And i've decided it is my favorite Malone book

[Lynn · Rating 1 out of 5]

After Malone's name kept coming up in lists and reviews of wonderful books/writing, I randomly chose this title (mostly because it was immediately available for Kindle). I abandoned after 20%, but to be fair, will give this author another try.

The writing was very good, engaging, and smart. The plot, however, revolved around theater and academe, neither of which I have much experience or interest. As the insider references piled one upon the next, I felt evermore like an outsider with absolutely no clue.

Clearly, not the book for me.

[Deon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Foolscap by Michael Malone is a hilarious book set in the world of academia and theater Professor Ryan’s life is complicated when a scheme is hatched to pass his play off as a newly discovered work by Sir Walter Raleigh. You will meet some odd but entertaining characters, like Dame Winifred Throckmorton. Funny, beautifully written, and wildly entertaining, it will make you want to read more books by Michael Malone.

[Amber Ross · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't even finish this book. I was so completely bored with everything about this novel as I tried to plod along. The premise sounded amazing from the book jacket. I like theater. I like quirky characters. I like books set at colleges. But this was too dull, too wordy, too meandering and too 'academic' for my tastes. I couldn't find myself caring enough about any of the characters. The first chapter drew me in... but that was about it for me.

[Heidi Schwartz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in a North Carolina University town, when the English department is in upheaval and an eccentric playwright is confounding his biographer who is one of the professors. The story takes many madcap twists and turns jumping across the pond to England where a retired Oxford professor specializing in manuscripts by Sir Walter Raleigh becomes the benefactor of a major fraud. Well written and good character development and enjoyable lighthearted read.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a re-read for me, and I was 1) surprised to discover the plot wasn't at all what I had thought I'd recalled, and 2) disappointed that I didn't love it as much as I thought I did the first time around. Certainly, I still enjoyed it overall, but found it to really drag at times. I'm rating it 3 stars this time around, after giving it 4 stars the first time (almost 20 years ago), so that averages out to a 3.5 star "lifetime rating" which seems about right.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anyone who enjoys smiling at the foibles of academia will enjoy this book. A favorite character is Winifred Throckmorton, a true lover of British literature who lives in a cottage crammed full of books and other odds and ends, perhaps the dream house in which we readers imagine ourselves spending our golden years. This book is FUN!

[Bridget · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. But I am an English and Theater major with an advanced degree. I enjoyed the interaction amongst the English department faculty, and the theater process as plays are produced. Don't know what others without that interest would think.
It was amusing. Not gut-bustingly funny like some of his later work.