The Dissertation

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The Dissertation
Author R. M. Koster
Country United States
Language English
Genre(s) Novel
Publisher W. W. Norton
Publication date 1972
Media type Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
Pages 438 pp
ISBN ISBN 0-393-30648-8

The Dissertation [1] is a novel by R. M. Koster, part of the Tinieblas trilogy.

The book is a mock-PhD thesis, written by the son of the dictator of Tinieblas, recounting his father's rise and fall in a satire of academic prose, while the footnotes narrate the sad life of the doctoral candidate, in the manner of Vladimir Nabokov's Pale Fire. It is often cited by readers as their favorite book of Koster's.