''Speedboat'' is a

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

novel by

Renata Adler Renata Adler (born October 19, 1938) is an American author, journalist, and film critic. Adler was a staff writer-reporter for ''The New Yorker'', and in 1968–69, she served as chief film critic for ''The New York Times''. She is also a write ...

that offers a fragmentary account of the experiences of Jen Fain, a young journalist living in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Publication history

Prior to ''Speedboat'', Adler was largely known for her nonfiction reportage in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', and while ''Speedboat'' is billed as a novel it includes actual incidents and autobiographical elements; as Adler once remarked, "Some of it was real." When the book was published in 1976, the 39-year-old Adler had temporarily left writing to become a first-year student at

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by ''U ...

. "I guess I didn’t know what was going to happen when ''Speedboat'' came out", she later said. "I thought, I better be in law school, because who knows whether anyone will like it or not."Bollen, Christopher
"Renata Adler"
''Interview'' 14 Aug. 2014. ''Speedboat'' received critical acclaim and won the

Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award The PEN/Hemingway Award is awarded annually to a full-length novel or book of short stories by an American author who has not previously published a full-length book of fiction. The award is named after Ernest Hemingway and funded by the Hemingway ...

for best debut work by an American writer of fiction. The prize was judged by

E. L. Doctorow Edgar Lawrence Doctorow (January 6, 1931 – July 21, 2015) was an American novelist, editor, and professor, best known for his works of historical fiction. He wrote twelve novels, three volumes of short fiction and a stage drama. They included ...

, Elizabeth Hardwick, and

Susan Sontag Susan Sontag (; January 16, 1933 – December 28, 2004) was an American writer, philosopher, and political activist. She mostly wrote essays, but also published novels; she published her first major work, the essay "Notes on 'Camp'", in 1964. Her ...

. The novel was also a finalist for the 1976

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".out of print __NOTOC__ An out-of-print (OOP) or out-of-commerce item or work is something that is no longer being published. The term applies to all types of printed matter, visual media, sound recordings, and video recordings. An out-of-print book is a book ...

in 1988 but remained a cult favorite; while teaching at

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it became ...

David Foster Wallace David Foster Wallace (February 21, 1962 – September 12, 2008) was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and university professor of English and creative writing. Wallace is widely known for his 1996 novel '' Infinite Jest'', whi ...

included ''Speedboat'' on the syllabus for a course on "obscure/eclectic fictions", and in 2000

David Shields David Shields is the author of twenty-four books, including '' Reality Hunger'' (which, in 2019, ''Lit Hub'' named one of the most important books of the past decade), ''The Thing About Life Is That One Day You'll Be Dead'' (a New York Times bes ...

declared it "one of the most original and formally exciting American novels published in the past 25 years." In 2013, ''Speedboat'' was reissued by

New York Review Books New York Review Books (NYRB) is the publishing division of ''The New York Review of Books''. Its imprints are New York Review Books Classics, New York Review Books Collections, The New York Review Children's Collection, New York Review Comics, N ...

simultaneously with Adler's second novel, '' Pitch Dark''; both works enjoyed a renewed wave of attention. The ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' referred to ''Speedboat'' as a "perfect novel", and

Anna Wiener Anna Wiener is an American writer, best known for her 2020 memoir ''Uncanny Valley''. Wiener currently writes for ''The New Yorker'' as a tech correspondent. Life Wiener grew up in Brooklyn and attended Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT. She ...

wrote in ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...

'' that, "Out of the blue, it seemed like everyone I knew was reading and discussing Adler....New York City booksellers pushed 'Speedboat''as a recovered sacred text ndAdler earned a new coterie of readers." Robbins, Michael
"Speedboat by Renata Adler still flat-out races"
''Chicago Tribunes'' 15 Mar. 2013. Writers

Ezra Furman Ezra Furman (born September 5, 1986) is an American musician and songwriter. Furman was the lead singer and guitarist of Ezra Furman and the Harpoons, formed in 2006, which ended with ''Mysterious Power'' (2011). Her subsequent work has include ...

Rachel Khong Rachel Khong (born 1985) is an American writer and editor based in San Francisco. Life Khong was born in Malaysia to a Malaysian Chinese family. She grew up in Rancho Cucamonga, California and attended high school in nearby Diamond Bar, Calif ...

Jenny Offill Jenny Offill (born 1968) is an American novelist and editor. Her novel ''Dept. of Speculation'' was named one of "The 10 Best Books of 2014" by ''The New York Times Book Review''. Early life Jenny Offill is the only child of two private-school ...

, and

Kate Zambreno Kate Zambreno (born December 30, 1977) is an American novelist, essayist, critic, and professor. She teaches writing in the graduate nonfiction program at Columbia University and at Sarah Lawrence College. Zambreno is a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow in ...

Higgs, Christopher
"Heroine Worship: Talking with Kate Zambreno"
''The Paris Review'' Daily 22 Oct. 2012. have subsequently cited ''Speedboat'' as an influence.

References

{{reflist, 30em 1976 American novels Novels set in New York City Novels about journalists Random House books NYRB Classics