Gone Tomorrow by P.F. Kluge

From the Publisher

**One of NPR's best books of 2008**
**One of The Cleveland Plain Dealer's top 10 Fiction titles of 2008**

When George Canaris, a writing professor on the verge of forced retirement at a small college in Ohio, is killed by a hit-and-run driver, he is the first faculty member in half a century whose death merits an obituary in The New York Times. "A writer, a critic, a professor, a campus legend and a national figure, the very embodiment of the liberal arts," says the paper. And a mystery. "Compared to Faulkner and Dos Passos at the start of his career," the Times observed, "in the end he resembled Harper Lee."

With a book listed among the one hundred greatest novels of all time, decades now separating him from the hefty advance taken on his next book, The Beast, and not a page to show of it, Canaris is an enigma. Inevitably, speculation grows that the book was a myth, a lie, a joke.

Upon his death, Mark May, a young English professor who barely knew him finds himself named as Canaris's literary executor and begins a search through lives and letters that is at once gripping, hilarious, and affirming. A true page-turner, Gone Tomorrow is equal parts Richard Russo and Michael Chabon, and yet entirely unlike anything you've ever read.

The New York Times - Janet Maslin

a sharply observed yet tender novel of academic life and its many sand traps, P. F. Kluge (himself a writer in residence at Kenyon College, which is the subject of his nonfiction book Alma Mater) uses the persona of Canaris to describe the dangers that a writer-teacher faces.

Publishers Weekly

In Kluge's (Eddie and the Cruisers) thoughtful new novel, Mark May, a young professor at an Ohio college, is surprised to be named the literary executor of a recently deceased colleague he barely knew. George Canaris was a literary sensation in the 1960s, but hadn't published anything in 30 years. At the time of his death, he was rumored to be working on his magnum opus, but there is doubt the manuscript exists. While inspecting the dead man's house, Mark finds the manuscript of Canaris's memoir, which provides insight into the man and his work, and even if Mark has doubts about its veracity, it pushes him to arrive at some important decisions about his own life. The novel is suffused with Kluge's obvious affection for books, and has some cleverly aphoristic things to say about the joys of teaching, the pitfalls of academic infighting and the tragedy of artistic expectations left unfulfilled. Although not as witty or biting as Kingsley Amis's academy fiction, this novel combines elements of Citizen Kane and Goodbye, Mr. Chips for a satisfying resolution. (Nov.)

Jennifer Reese - Entertainment Weekly

George Canaris, the narrator of P.F. Kluge's sparkling new novel Gone Tomorrow, is a famous writer who takes a job teaching at a small Ohio college - and for the next three decades talks about (but fails to publish) his next big book, a mysterious project that he refers to as "the Beast." What, exactly, has Canaris been doing all these years, and what is the nature of the Beast? These are the questions Kluge entertains in this witty and astute tragicomedy about academia and the trajectory of an artist's life. B+

M. Neville - Library Journal

In his ninth book, acclaimed writer/professor Kluge (e.g., Eddie and the Cruisers) cleverly combines an affectionate memoir with some elements of suspense. Famous writer-in-residence George Canaris is killed by a hit-and-run driver while preparing to leave his 30-year teaching post at a small Ohio college. Prior to his appointment there, Canaris was a renowned novelist, but he hasn't published anything since, so a search ensues after his death to find the hidden "beast" of a manuscript he presumably has tucked away. Instead, the work discovered was written by Canaris after he was asked to resign his position one year before; this work describes his life and teaching that final year amidst both caring colleagues and sinister foes. Readers learn about an interesting group of characters who've intersected this man's life, many of whom ring true as individuals and as archetypes of literature students, academics, and small-town inhabitants. Kluge also provides insight into a successful writer's fears about writing a failed novel and the pressures to publish continually. Effectively shunning pedantry, Kluge dispenses lively gems of wisdom about the writing process itself while sprinkling the narrative with references to contemporary culture, giving the story a worthwhile bounce. Recommended for all fiction collections.

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