Camus Comedy
Fool on the Hill by Matt Ruff
Fool on the Hill is a sprawling, enchanting, unabashed ode to the magic of storytelling. Plots and subplots abound as a Greek storyteller meddles, a pagan liar learns to write without paper, and a host of supporting characters play their parts with love, courage, anger and humor.
The title character is Stephen Titus George, a writer who's also an instructor at Cornell University. Ruff has made his alter ego a fascinating one: George pens best-selling novels full of fantasy and magic, harbors interesting theories about Romeo and Juliet, and is on good terms with the wind. He's also - without knowing it - the central figure in a story of someone else's devising, the White Knight in a battle of good vs. evil.
Among George's supporting cast are Luther, a dog who drags his feline friend Blackjack on a trip to heaven; Ragnarok, the Black Knight with a past that needs exorcising; and Aurora, who dreams of living the fairy tales she reads. Other imaginative creations - Bohemians, sprites, Ithacops, and the brothers of the Rat Frat - roam freely over Ruff's campus. Ruff does a good job of giving each character his or her own story to tell, and a role to play in the larger scheme of things (though a couple of subplots are tied up a little too neatly at the end).
While serious subjects are touched upon, "Fool on the Hill" is by and large a comedy, with riffs on literature, sex and other worthy targets. At one point, two sprites have a conversation about the big C:
"Look, it's not like Zephyr and I had a firm commitment."
"That," said Hamlet, "is one of the two dumbest statements made by males on this planet, be they sprite or human."
"I had urges, all right?"
"And that takes care of the other."
It helps if you're familiar with Cornell - Ruff's alma mater - but it's not necessary, for a couple of reasons. First, Ruff covers all the essentials, and provides all the context you need for the most important parts of campus. Second, Ruff's version of Cornell is much more magical and fantastical than the original; certain things (like, unfortunately, Tolkien House) don't have real-life counterparts. And in the end, the campus is just the setting - it's the story that's the thing.
Also recommended: Moo, by Jane Smiley, is another campus comedy, though it takes a much more satiric (and serious) approach to its target, a fictional agricultural university in the Midwest.
