So Do I!

by Richard W. Bailey

Author of his fate, or victim of his past? A writer reveals his lead player's challenges, attempting to portray them artfully in the "Man at war, returning home to trouble." story he's developing. Only on reflection does he discover his creation is becomes an uncomfortable replication of himself. He's forced to make an earnest self-examination that wreaks havoc on his life, his wife, and family. It is his attempt to live his own life fully in tune with his sense of who he is at a deeper level, that directs his struggles to reconcile the course his lead character takes in his novel He believes his unexamined life would not be worth leading, but, the alternative of submitting himself to his own earnest scrutiny, forces him to challenge his convictions, and make a full throated attempt to emerge as he truly is. If nothing worthwhile is easy, what will come of his struggle? Will it bring the peace and fulfillment he seeks, or choke him on the ashes he's leaves in his wake?Mid-fifties US, East Coast, New York, New England, sets the scene for Blaine to tell his tale of a world at war in mid-forties Europe; Lt. Knox, his lead player cast into critical combat zones, must lead his men to carry out their deadly missions, crippled as he is by his past. Will Blaine find his focus, undistracted at his retreat in Maine? His family relies on his success, even sacrificing their well-being to support his work. A world of unintended consequences can seguey from well intended indiscretions that promise to unwind everything with meaning in his life.We will discover if it is true there are no heroes, but only pedestrian folk, caught by circumstance and pressed to the limit, who succeed or fail, with consequences that shape their life and the lives of others ever after.

290 pages, Paperback

Published July 10, 2020

About the author

Professor Richard Weld Bailey taught in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Michigan for 42 years (1965 –2007), where he was honored in 2002 with a collegiate professorship: the Fred Newton Scott Collegiate Professor of English.

He was a pioneer in the application of computers to research in the humanities,attending early conferences sponsored by IBM and the Rand Corporation (1964 and 1967).