A Footnote to Plato
A Novel
- Fiction
- Publisher: Resource Publications (Wipf and Stock)
- Published: 2023
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Publisher's Description
A Footnote to Plato takes place in 2012 at a tiny liberal arts college in Vermont. Philosophy professor Dr. Isaac Fischelson finds himself embroiled in a student drama that leads to a false accusation of sexual harassment and an investigation intended to force him out. He faces a disgraceful end to his long career unless he retires immediately. But Dr. Fischelson refuses to be, as his students like to say, an epic failure. Zeb is a promising math student who has resorted to dealing coke to pay for college. He lives on a failed hippie commune with his toxic mother, who seems intent on bankrupting her son, both materially and spiritually. Zeb tries his best to escape her world, but what he really needs is a bit of luck. The two meet in the Maintenance Committee and soon form a Socrates-Plato bond. When Zeb offers to help the professor put together an online lecture series, Dr. Fischelson decides to take him and a small group of students to Greece to film it. It's an opportunity of a lifetime for Zeb and Dr. Fischelson's last chance to save his reputation--and maybe leave behind a legacy.
Endorsements (4)
“A Footnote to Plato is precisely observed and amusing, playing the Platonic quest for virtue against the ethical regression of contemporary academia. Even without the Platonic material, the novel is, in spirit, knowingly playful in a way that Plato would surely recognize.”
“Brilliantly confronts one of the great—and urgent—needs of culture: to reveal the often distant power of philosophy through the warm intimacy of a page-turning story. At last, Plato comes alive in the middle of modern America.”
“In this captivating novel, Tina Lee Forsee skewers academic politics, takes us from Vermont to Greece and back, and makes Plato relevant (again) in reckoning with our purpose in life. The winning Alexandra, with her jumpy mind, the perseverating professor, brilliant but troubled Zeb, and a ghostly college president take us on a very lively trip into the cave.”
“An academic novel and a novel of ideas, served up cheerfully and heroically by a very talented writer who doesn’t care if both these genres are out of fashion. You shouldn’t either.”
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