The Human Stain may be compared, for example, with Saul Bellow's Ravelstein, both of which, despite their obvious differences in style, make use of many comparable devices including that of the narrator. Chick, the narrator of Ravelstein, has produced a novel about Ravelstein; Zuckerman, the narrator of The Human Stain, has produced a book entitled "The Human Stain." Critics suggest that in both cases, the identification of narrator with author is very close, indeed. Among other recent "academic novels," one might consider Blue Angel (2000) by Francine Prose, a much younger writer than either Bellow or Roth, and Brian Morton's Starting Out in the Evening (2000).