Waiting Insect

Waiting For Brando

Edward J. Epstein | Lapham's Quarterly | 7th March 2023

It is 1959. The author, aged 24, sets out to impress his girlfriend by telegraphing a Greek film company proposing a co-production of the Iliad with Marlon Brando as Achilles. The Greeks are thrilled. The then-unknown Mario Puzo writes a shooting script. Sydney Lumet may be interested in directing. The Greek government lends a battalion of soldiers. But one thing is still missing: Marlon Brando (5,300 words)

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From The Browser Six Years Ago

Insect Detective

Eric Boodman | Stat | 22nd March 2017

Government entomologist tells how her working day is increasingly taking up by delusional visitors who walk in claiming that their bodies are infested with insects and parasites, and who have exhausted the patience of their physicians. “Patients believe that the proper medication is not an antipsychotic but an antiparasitic, and that the correct expert is not a psychiatrist but an insect specialist” (4,800 words)