Word: paragrapher
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...script for Bonnie and Clyde) has imagined a Philip Marlowe type named Ira Wells (Art Carney), who has outlived his day. He is discovered existing in a rented room on Social Security, watching old movies on TV while his attempt at an autobiography languishes in the typewriter, just one paragraph written. Then his old partner (played by Howard Duff, who was Sam Spade on the radio in the old days) arrives gut-shot at his door, dies in his arms, and Wells takes over the case his friend was working on. On its face, it is not much: Duff...
...quality of journalism is generally good, but not always consistent. For example, the lead story in the second issue, about a poisonous chemical that was mistakenly mixed into animal feed in Michigan, was rather loosely written and didn't mention until the fifth paragraph the most important fact: that the chemical was making people sick...
...narrative of Speedboat jumps around both in time and space as Jennifer Fain, a journalist, relates a series of stories about her past, her friends, her assignments, things she has read or seen. The vignettes, few more than a paragraph long, are juxtaposed with apparent disregard for the way we supposedly perceive reality. However, the jaggedness of the narrative is happily suited to the subject matter of Speedboat, life with "the jet, the telephone, the boat, the train, the television. Dislocations." The reader learns about the characters and events of the book the way Jennifer learns about them: through...
...want to find" about how liberalism and conservatism have changed in recent years. "The reporters were bored to tears by it. The only thing they were interested in was the attack on President Ford's vetoes. It's the same with every speech. They rush through to find a paragraph about Ford. It's as if they're sports reporters...
...notes: "Our full professors, tenured faculty, teach H.B.A., or Hours by Appointment; that is, never." Students are awarded "Prior Life Experience" credits for such things as raking famous people's lawns. This may look like slapstick. But it sounds, to anyone who has brushed against academe, horribly true. Paragraph by paragraph, vignette by vignette, Speedboat hilariously builds an unsettling case: truth is slapstick. No wonder attentive, sensitive people begin to go weird: "A 'self-addressed envelope,' if you are inclined to brood, raises deep questions of identity...