# The Dean's December

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/saul-bellow/the-deans-december/9780141916804

![The Dean's December](https://quivercdn.com/covers/penguin/saul-bellow/the-deans-december_978-01-4191-680-4.jpg?v=2026-04-23%2021%3A47%3A05)

- Book: [The Dean's December](https://www.bookquiver.com/saul-bellow/the-deans-december) ([The Dean's December.md](https://www.bookquiver.com/saul-bellow/the-deans-december.md))
- Authors: [Saul Bellow](https://www.bookquiver.com/saul-bellow)
- Publisher: Penguin
- Medium: ebook
- ISBN: 978-01-4191-680-4
- Published: 2012-04-05
- Language: en_GB
- Binding: E-book

## Description

Dean Corde is a man of position and authority at a Chicago university. He accompanies his wife to Bucharest where her mother, a celebrated figure, lies dying in a state hospital. As he tries to help her grapple with an unfeeling bureaucracy, news filters through to him of problems left behind in Chicago. A student had been been murdered and Corde had directed that charges be pressed against two black youths, but controversy and pressure are mounting against the university administration. Further, a series of articles written by Corde has offended influential Chicagoans whom he had counted as friends. Corde is troubled: at home the centre is not holding firm, in Eastern Europe authority is cruel and dehumanising.