Barely adequate philosophy professor Legare Hume has a mind-body problem. No matter how far he goes, no matter how hard he thinks, he can't escape the world he lives in. On the run from his wife Tally, Legare joins brilliant but exceptionally awkward colleague Saul Grossman to attend the American Philosophical Association's Charleston, South Carolina conference, where worlds and walks of life collide in a strange and satirical amalgamation that can only be described as reality. Legare's mission is simple enough: put up with the conference, read a paper he never thought anyone would want to hear, receive the tenure he isn't sure he wants, and return, or not, to the wife who nearly killed him before he left. But his plans are hijacked by a botched hotel reservation and the all-too-convenient presence of the Southern family Legare has worked very hard all his adult life to avoid. Hume's Fork is a brilliantly satirical and philosophical novel, every bit as funny as it is intelligent - a true original. Legare's conflict - Hume's fork, if you will - becomes the reader's, for all worlds are one, and nothing can truly be separate from everything else.
"This is a wacky novel, even for a satire. It stars a couple of philosophy professors who, on their way to a conference in North Carolina, get sidetracked and wind up bunking with a local family. The book's protagonist is Legare Hume, and the local family is his own: mother, father, and various relatives, including the only two Legare can stand, his sister and her small boy. He has spent most of h
Booklist
"Only Ron Cooper could have cooked up this mix of zaniness and erudition, satire and insight. Hume's Fork is as delicious as it is original."
Rebecca Goldstein, philosopher, novelist, and MacArthur Fellow
"Hume's Fork is one of the funniest novels I've read in a long time."
