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As the Iraq War got underway, Nicholas Kulish experienced it first-hand as an embedded reporter for The Wall Street Journal. But his novel, Last One In, takes a less journalistic approach and instead tells the story of a gossip columnist turned embedded war correspondent on the front lines in Iraq.
as I listened to the interview with Nicholas Kulish, something rang a bell--here's Wikipedia's description of what it was: Scoop is a 1938 novel by English writer Evelyn Waugh. In this satire of sensational journalism, a young man, the author of a regular column on placid country life for a London newspaper aptly named the Daily Beast, is dragooned into becoming a foreign correspondent and is sent to the fictional African state of Ishmaelia where a civil war threatens to break out. There, despite his total ineptitude, he accidentally manages to get the 'scoop' of the title.
of course, all plots are stealable--but I would have admired Kulish if he'd at least given a nod to Waugh.
Your program is wonderful--worth getting up for on a Saturday morning!
Are you kidding me ? "To heroize oneself" ???? This from a WSJ reporter???? And he complained about Pentagon doublespeak?? Please bring back the English language!!
If there was a war ripe for satire, surely this one is. If there was a news media worthy of lampooning, ours clearly is.
I would grant Kulish the benefit of the doubt. Even if he read "Scoop", he may not have recalled it and, since there are only so many plots, perhaps it was simply coincidence.
Also, extemporaneous speech should allow for some new word "coinage".
Interestingly enough, this actually happened in the real world! Chris Ayres was the L.A. (read: Hollywood) reporter for The Times of London and was thrown into Iraq as an embed by his editor. He recounts the experience in his wonderful book "War Reporting for Cowards".
Of course, he managed to get out of Iraq after 2 weeks!
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Mohamed
http://www.mohamedn.com
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