Philosophy 4: A Story of Harvard University

This sharp little comedy captures Harvard in the 1880s, when young men navigated exams, philosophical abstractions, and each other. Bertie and Billy are two sophomores who have spent the year doing everything except preparing for Philosophy 4. With finals looming, they hire Oscar, an earnest fellow student, to cram Kant, Plato, and Berkeley into their reluctant skulls. What follows is a hilariously uneven tutorial: the boys challenge Oscar's interpretations, object to his scholarly methods, and turn the whole enterprise into a battle of wit against pedantry. The real pleasure lies in watching Wister skewer the gap between learning and life. The boys bicker through Descartes and then go out for cigars. They debate idealism over beer. And in the end, the exam delivers an unexpected verdict that leaves Oscar bewildered and the reader grinning. For anyone who has ever crammed for a test they should have started weeks ago, this novel offers delicious schadenfreude wrapped in period charm.