Literature Network » Ring Lardner

'Ritual' earns a passing grade; Author's first effort shows promise, but squanders chance for satire

Content courtesy of

From: Chicago Sun-Times
Date: 20070722
Author:Ron Charles

The Headmaster Ritual

By Taylor Antrim

Houghton Mifflin, 309 pages, paperback, $13.95

The only good thing about the first year of teaching is it can happen to you only once. Through a haze of cringing horror, I remember when I insisted Ring Lardner was a fictional character, made fun of a deaf student, reduced a recently orphaned girl to tears, and, while swaying dramatically behind a wooden lectern, drove a long splinter through my pants and into my groin.

But Dyer Martin, the hero of The Headmaster Ritual, has it even worse. Fleeing a dead-end relationship and a disastrous stint as a ...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Other Articles on Ring Lardner

About Our Articles: We've partnered with Highbeam Research to provide these article excerpts for your research needs. However, due to copyright laws, we cannot publish the whole article. To view these articles in full length you'll need to use the link above to access the free trial at Highbeam.