NEW MAN.(The Talk of the Town)(Unknown White Male)(Movie review)

Publication: The New Yorker

Publication Date: 27-FEB-06

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COPYRIGHT 2006 All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission of The Condé Nast Publications Inc.

At 9 a.m. on July 3, 2003, Doug Bruce woke up on the F train near Coney Island. He had no idea who or where he was. There was a swimsuit in his knapsack, but it was cool and rainy out. He knew what cars were, but he could not identify specific hood ornaments; he could sign his name--a left-handed scrawl--but he was able to decipher only the "D." His scalp was covered with bumps and cuts, and he had a pounding headache. Two days later, recalling that morning, he wrote, "I go to a shop and buy some water. I'm cold and wet. I'm afraid I have committed a crime." Bruce was suffering from a rare condition known as total retrograde amnesia. All his memories had vanished, and his syntax seemed...

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