Book summary

In these short fictions (1984) from Nobel Prize-winning American writer Saul Bellow, ordinary people--except for the fact that they are often intellectuals--struggle to get along in a world of appearances, and to find the truth under the mask. The title story is about a tactless character, Dr. Shawmutt, who has little control over what he says, no matter how offensive--his "handicap" is actually about stripping away deceit and confusion and getting down to life's essentials. Other stories include "Cousins," "A Silver Dish," and "Zetland: By a Character Witness."