Unholy Loves is a mockingly overheated title announcing the novel's satiric fascination with the passions of Academe. Passion—or perhaps choler—is what attends the faculty of Humanities at Woodslee College when aged Albert St. Dennis takes up residence as Distinguished Professor of Poetry. That he will not be what he seems … allows Oates to dramatize her game of appearance and reality and to play it with the envious faculty as well. She plays it expertly. Unholy Loves is brilliant revenge comedy.

The novel's major assets—a veteran's fidelity to scene and character, frequent shifts in narrative from person to person which adds surprise and freshness, a dead-center ear for the rhythms of conversation heard at endless faculty parties … eloquently contribute to her familiar theme of a predatory world. At the center, there are several memorable characters besides St. Dennis, whose indifference to the collective and separate faculty ego triggers off their unholy passions…. Oates is not gentle with these figures; we are always aware that, despite their surface charm and glib concern for others, there throbs a heart carved from Darwin. That identification and empathy are yet so easily stirred is finally a tribute to Oates's great persuasion.