Life — September 26, 1930 — page 10: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Confession" by Richard Connell This satirical essay mocks predictable literary story openings. Connell catalogs clichéd opening lines he dislikes—tales beginning in London clubs with aristocrats, stories about Sascha Boris Zomonozov, and adventure narratives like "The Man Who Dared." The two cartoons illustrate his complaints: "Shine, buddy?" shows an exaggerated street character, while "The Ritz Carleton!" depicts a disheveled passenger in a taxi (marked 15¢), likely mocking low-brow or melodramatic story premises. The piece's ironic refrain—"I do not like stories which begin..."—emphasizes how Connell dislikes these tropes *yet always reads them anyway*, capturing the paradox of popular fiction's appeal despite (or because of) its predictability. The humor targets both hackneyed writing and readers' guilty consumption of it.