A Case of Mistaken Identity, by L. Timmel Duchamp, is one of a series of "Short Story Paperbacks" published by Pulphouse Publishing. At 46 pages, it is easily digested in a sitting.

The story is about a young academic in a university history department who has her eyes set on a hot date with an older professor. While fantasizing one day, one of her favorite characters in literature, Elizabeth Bennett from Jane Austin's 'Pride and Prejudice,' materializes before her eyes. The narrator - we'll call her Lisa for sake of reference, since she remains nameless throughout the story in keeping with its thrust - is naturally skeptical, possibly feeling something in common with Ebeneezer Scrooge when he encountered Marley's ghost. Probably just a bit of indigestion. Elizabeth tells Lisa that Lisa can see her because Lisa sees her as she is, while John, the target of Lisa's affections, cannot see her at all because his mentality forces him to see what she is not. Indeed, Elizabeth does not appear to Lisa as the character Lisa imagined from 'Pride and Prejudice.' She appears as a staid matron of perhaps forty, and their first conversation centers around the realities of femininity. Later Lisa has the date with her beau, and she sees there were aspects of John's behavior she had missed before. An abortive discussion with him about how he visualizes the future life of Elizabeth Bennett with her Darcy in Jane Austin's book goes awry, and she has a final illuminating conversation with Elizabeth.

The story is written with brilliant wit. The writing is a little complex - one can't skim through it without attention. Yet, this reviewer was held in smiles nearly throughout. Despite the lightness, its subject matter is serious - the disparity between the 'ideal woman' as romanticized by some men and the real person that lives in every woman's body, and its impact on human relations. The story is thought-provoking and intelligent, and with the humor makes a really wonderful short read you may be thinking about for some time after you put the book down. Publishing such a thought-provoking story in this one-story-to-a-book format is the perfect presentation - no rushing on to the next story without giving this one some thought first!

For its delightfully humorous presentation of a serious subject that gets its point across clearly, I give this story a 5-star rating. Though it is long out-of-print, 'A Case of Mistaken Identity' should be available from the larger used-book Web sites. ( )