The hand-written marginalia are not always chronological. The pair hopes to solve the mystery of Straka's identity before Eric's graduate professor, who allegedly stole his research and had him expelled, publishes his research on Straka.

The two begin to trade a copy of Ship of Theseus back and forth without meeting, using the book's margins to carry out discussions about who Straka was using handwritten notes, arrows, and symbols. Jen is a college senior contemplating the next step of her life. Eric is a disgraced graduate student who has spent his life studying Straka and his literary works. Ī second storyline takes place in the book's margins. Caldeira, described as Straka's chosen translator for many of his books, including Ship of Theseus, though even Caldeira never encountered Straka face-to-face. His identity is indicated to be the subject of much scholarly debate as evidenced by a foreword and footnotes from F. X. In the metafictional narrative, Straka's enigmatic life and death are considered one of the literary world's greatest mysteries and enshrouded by conspiracy theories and claims of espionage and assassination. Presented as Straka's nineteenth and final novel before his mysterious death, Ship of Theseus tells the story of an amnesiac on a strange journey to discover himself.

The novel can be read alone in its entirety. The book's spine is labeled with a library sticker marking the novel's location number in the Dewey Decimal Classification. The pages are worn and yellowed with library stamps in the front and back cover and stains on the pages. is designed to appear entirely as a copy of the standalone novel Ship of Theseus written by Straka that was borrowed from and never returned to the Laguna Verde High School Library. The publication information is printed under a mock-up of a high school library's check-out history of the book, spanning the years 1957 to 2000.

title, no reference is made to Dorst or Abrams, and the only reference to the book's true publishing information appears in fine print inside the back cover. is presented in the form of a novel called Ship of Theseus written by a fictional, elusive author named V. M.

It is composed of the novel Ship of Theseus (by a fictional author), hand-written notes filling the book's margins as a dialogue between two college students hoping to uncover the author's mysterious identity and the novel's secret, plus loose supplementary materials tucked in between pages. The novel is unusual in its format, presented as a story within a story. is a 2013 novel written by Doug Dorst and conceived by J. J.

S dorst novel