The Dean's December Author:Saul Bellow In Saul Bellow's novel of academic life, Albert Corde, the middle-aged dean of an American college, is on sabbatical in Eastern Europe with his wife, who is visiting her dying mother. In a simple attempt to sort through the events of his own life, he becomes embroiled in diplomatic embarrassments and criminal cases, and finds that he understands... more » himself less and less with each new revelation. Written with the intellectual and psychological depth and insight that have become Bellow's trademarks, THE DEAN'S DECEMBER--his first novel after being awarded the Nobel Prize in 1976--is a moving portrait of a man's effort to take his own measure.« less