The Dissertation

Über

The Dissertation is a novel by R. M. Koster, part of the Tinieblas trilogy.
The book is a mock-PhD thesis, written by the son of the dictator of Tinieblas, recounting his father's rise and fall in a satire of academic prose, while the footnotes narrate the sad life of the doctoral candidate, in the manner of Vladimir Nabokov's Pale Fire. It is often cited by readers as their favorite book of Koster's.
The Dissertation makes an appearance in the 2013 Stephen King novel Joyland where it is being read by the character Annie Ross.