"The Dissertation" presents itself as a doctoral thesis with contrapuntal stories in the text and notes. A biography of the only honest President of Tineiblas, Leon Fuertes (assassinated 1964), written by his son, Camilo, the notes (in the manner of Nabokov's "Pale Fire") advance Camilo's story of academic and political intrigue and marital difficulty, while the body of the narrative relates the ancestry and history of his father. Cammilo's research methods are unique: he interviews spirits of the dead for information before resorting to libraries and published sources.