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Summary
Summary
Professor Dr. von Igelfeld Entertainment - Book 2
The Professor Dr. von Igelfeld Entertainment series slyly skewers academia, chronicling the comic misadventures of the endearingly awkward Professor Dr. Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld, and his long-suffering colleagues at the Institute of Romantic Philology in Germany.
Readers who fell in love with Precious Ramotswe, proprietor of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, now have new cause for celebration in the protagonist of these three light-footed comic novels by Alexander McCall Smith. Welcome to the insane and rarified world of Professor Dr. Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld of the Institute of Romance Philology. Von Igelfeld is engaged in a never-ending quest to win the respect he feels certain he is due-a quest which has the tendency to go hilariously astray.
In The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs , Professor Dr. Von Igelfeld is mistaken for a veterinarian and not wanting to call attention to the faux pas, begins practicing veterinary medicine without a license. He ends up operating on a friend's dachshund to dramatic and unfortunate effect. He also transports relics for a schismatically challenged Coptic prelate, and is pursued by marriage-minded widows on board a Mediterranean cruise ship.
Author Notes
Alexander McCall Smith was born on August 24, 1948 in Zimbabwe. He was a professor of medical law at the University of Edinburgh, but he left in 2005 to focus on his writing. He has written over 60 books, including specialist academic titles including Forensic Aspects of Sleep and The Criminal Law of Botswana, short story collections including Portuguese Irregular Verbs, and children's books including The Perfect Hamburger. He is best known for the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. He also writes the Corduroy Mansions, Isabel Dalhousie and 44 Scotland Street series.
He has received numerous awards, including The Crime Writers' Association Dagger in the Library Award and the 2004 United Kingdom's Author of the Year Award. His book, The Full Cupboard of Life, received the Saga Award for Wit in the United Kingdom. In 2007, he received a CBE for his services in literature.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
Kirkus Review
Prof. Dr. Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld's second volume of adventures is bookended by a pair of memorable lectures and a pair of his own obituaries. "I am always interested in everything," the mainstay of the Institute for Romance Philology tells his host at the University of Arkansas. All five of these interlinked episodes explore the folly of this singularly imperceptive remark. In the title story, von Igelfeld, prodded by jealousy of his colleagues, seeks an invitation to America only to discover that his host, Prof. R.B. Leflar, thinks he's a professor of veterinary medicine--a professor, in fact, quite recently deceased--and expects him to give a paper on dachshunds. In "A Leg to Stand On," Prof. Leflar returns the visit to von Igelfeld in Regensburg, where a sausage dog again plays an unexpectedly prominent role. "On the Couch" sends von Igelfeld first to the same psychiatrist his vengeful colleague Prof. Dr. Detlev Amadeus Unterholzer is consulting, and then, when von Igelfeld outdoes Unterholzer in vindictiveness, to a priestly confessional that's the comic high point of the volume. "The Bones of Father Christmas," by far the longest of these stories, unleashes Smith's wildest inventions, as von Igelfeld is inveigled into taking charge of the sacred relics of St. Nicholas and gets a private audience with the Pope, who otherwise passes his time playing solitaire. Finally, "The Perfect Imperfect" packs him aboard a cruise ship as the only unmarried man bobbing in a sea of hundreds of rapacious widows before he takes matters into his own hands. Only two flaws mar Smith's delicate comedy: The 50-page "Father Christmas" lacks the shorter adventures' light touch, and we never do get to hear the complete text of either of von Igelfeld's crucial lectures. (Illus. throughout with b&w block prints) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
In these three novellas, Smith (The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency) introduces a new character, Dr. Moriz-Maria von Igelfeld, a professor of romance philology whose most noted (and only) book is Portuguese Irregular Verbs. Other recurring characters include von Igelfeld's colleagues at the Institute of Romance Philology, Dr. Florianus Prinzel and Dr. Detlev Amadeus Unterholzer. Von Igelfeld continuously tries to prove to himself and others that he is the absolute best in his field and as such he should be shown the utmost respect. This often results in the most humorous situations, as things do not go according to plan. In Portuguese Irregular Verbs, von Igelfeld gets Dr. Prinzel involved in a duel, which results in the loss of the tip of Prinzel's nose. In The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs, Dr. Unterholzer's beloved pet dachshund is left with only one leg after von Igelfeld, mistaken for a veterinarian, amputates the other three. And in At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances, von Igelfeld becomes involved in academic intrigue at Cambridge and a little misadventure in Colombia. This delightful head-in-the-clouds professor will enthrall the author's many fans. Recommended for most popular fiction collections.-Karen Core, Kent Dist. Lib., Grand Rapids, MI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.