Word: jessel
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...Landing on the Sun, Michael Frayn's new novel, starts and ends with a pair of hands. Brian Jessel, the narrator, describes the actions and qualities of the hands, and his description is impersonal and efficient. We learn subsequently that the hands belong to Jessel, but it seems that he never understands this fact, nor its reflection on himself: the banality of his life is so great that he doesn't seem to notice that he is alive...
...narration of the novel is an acutely personal one. It belongs to Brian Jessel, a young British citizen who works in the Cabinet Office and hides behind his beard in order to observe life without taking part...
...book's primary action revolves around Jessel's latest assignment--he investigates the mysterious death of a man named Stephen Summerchild, who once held Jessel's own position. Rumors of espionage and exposed state secrets surround Summerchild's death and have aroused the interest of the press; the government tries to quiet them by assigning Jessel to investigate Summerchild's life and work...
Managers talk funny, often spitting tobacco to punctuate their sentences. For public consumption, they lapse into the inspirational language of after- dinner speeches. Listen to Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, baseball's answer to George Jessel, rattle off run-on cliches about his mediocre team: "We got to keep going out there and battle. We've got to believe that we can win." But the most striking thing about managers is their preternatural awareness that they have less job security than the East German government. "Every manager's job is in jeopardy," says Houston Astros skipper Art Howe...
...great juggler hold, just hold, a lemon. Williams traces his yen for straight roles to Manhattan's Juilliard School, where he studied acting. 'I had my Juilliard training -- ((highbrow accent:)) 'I'm an actor here' -- and then I do comedy on the side. It's this Jekyll-and-Jessel thing -- ((stentorian voice:)) 'Actor during the day; at night, strange man who talks about his genitals.' " Still, playing romantic leads in forgettable films chafed the sacred maniac inside him. "When your favorite actors are Peter Sellers and Peter Lorre, you're not seeing yourself saying ((a la Clark Gable:)), 'Frankly...