newcritics - Latest Comments in The Staying Power of James Thurber

Re: The Staying Power of James Thurber

jill bryant — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 16:45:34 -0000

Yay! A piece on Thurber - what a pleasure. I'm with the other commenters and am also a HUGE fan and was so happy to be reminded of stories I haven't read for a long time (and now, will have to re-read soon.) I thought Karraker's experience of being the 5th grader who was laughing in the classroom was interesting because I don't any friends who like Thurber. I don't know if they really haven't been exposed in the right way - I was laughing so hard reading one of them "File & Forget" (where the book "Grandma was a Nudist" played a prominent part), I'm not sure she even got it or was just laughing because I couldn't stop.
BTW, since my blog is about my pit bull Honey, I would like to point out Thurber was a fan of this very maligned breed. Sorry - just had to get that in there...
Thanks so much for this post!!!

Re: The Staying Power of James Thurber

Roger Karraker — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 20:41:45 -0000

I'm now a retired journalism professor, but it was Thurber (or more accurately my fifth-grade teacher's reading of Thurber) that turned me on to the magic of writing -- of whimsey, of creating an alternate reality.

The teacher, whose name I've sadly forgotten, read "If Grant Had Been Drinking at Appomomatox". I was the only one in class who laughed out loud, and I did so repeatedly. The others in class looked perplexed and I thought them to be dolts.

It was as if a veil had been lifted from my eyes. Writers could do more, Thurber showed, than traditional narration and description: they could imagine.

That experience was, I guess, about 51 years ago. It remains one of the most formative days of my life; it made me want to become a writer.

Re: The Staying Power of James Thurber

Jesse — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 11:03:53 -0000

Thurber's a genius. A very nice package of Thurber cartoons and articles (excepting my own, which sucked,) is in the Comics Journal Winter 2003 Special, the one with a William Stout cover. Ivan Brunetti's biographical faux-Thurber cartoons are especially stunning.

Re: The Staying Power of James Thurber

David Ehrenstein — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 12:20:10 -0000

Thanks so much for this. I consider myself extremely lucky to have seen the great Broadway revue "A Thurber Carnival" the week that Mr. Thurber appeared in it. I shall never forget it.

Re: The Staying Power of James Thurber

George — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 09:40:53 -0000

And don't forget his literary criticism. My all-time favorite Thurber quote is from his review of Anne Morrow Lindbergh's "The Wave of the Future": "Mrs. Lindbergh's prefiguring of what is to come gives me the creeblies; it sets the weeping wailwice scuttering along the edges of my dreams."

Re: The Staying Power of James Thurber

Tehanu — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 03:50:15 -0000

Don't forget that Thurber also wrote funny fantasies like "The Wonderful O" and beautiful, poetic ones like "The Thirteen Clocks." But I agree that "The Night the Bed Fell" is one of the crowns of American literature. "I'm coming!"

Re: The Staying Power of James Thurber

Gentlewoman — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 21:10:38 -0000

Thank you for this lovely reminder of one of my favorite authors.

You and your son are quite correct, the stories in My Life and Hard Times require reading aloud.

My younger brothers and I used to read them to one another, and we all cracked up laughing in the same places every time.

I'm pretty sure I could still send either one of my brothers into stitches by calling one of them up and shouting, 'Get Ready! Tom's aCOLD!' or something equally randomly chosen, into the telephone. And I have used, 'The Theater, in our time, has known few such moments.' as a catch-phrase for years, particularly those years I spent in The Theater. It was always a joy when someone's eyes lit up, and I recognized a fellow Thurberphile.

Sadly, my copy of The Clocks of Columbus, that lovely Thurber biography, has disappeared (never lend cherished and hard to replace books, boys and girls!). I still hope to find another in the next used book store, just around the next corner...

Re: The Staying Power of James Thurber

Kip W — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 18:58:34 -0000

The Library of America volume of Thurber is a welcome addition to the library of me. Garrison Keillor chose the selections, and includes the familiar, the unfamiliar (previously unreprinted New Yorker pieces), and the drawings, reproduced better than I've seen them in years. It doesn't replace my shelf of Thurber books, painstakingly acquired, but it's a lot handier to take on trips.

Re: The Staying Power of James Thurber

estiv — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 18:12:19 -0000

Bravo. I grew up on Thurber myself, and am grateful for that fact. Also I'm currently wading through The Most of S.J. Perelman, and its 650 pages contain fewer real gems than the considerably shorter My Life and Hard Times. In fact the only complaint I have about Thurber is that he spoiled me, and I spend more time than I like to admit being polite to other people about things that just...are...not...that...funny. Plus, Thurber broke my heart when I read his biography and understood what an unhappy life he had. One of the stories in the Bernstein bio is about the time shortly after his death when someone sat in Thurber's favorite chair at a party, and everyone else turned and glared at the man until he got up. Thurber may have been deeply difficult at the end, but he was still deeply loved. I hope I'm that lucky.

Re: The Staying Power of James Thurber

JJB — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 16:36:16 -0000

I first became aware of Thurber's work in eighth-grade English class (thanks Miss Cronin!). She read such stories as "The Night The Ghost Got In" and "The Night The Bed Fell," prompting me to get the "Thurber Carnival" collection from the library. I have two particular favorites. The first is "Something To Say," a satirical piece about a supposedly brilliant writer named Elliot Vereker who sponges off his friends, drunkenly insults everyone he comes into contact with, and produces no writing except for a handful of pages of a supposed novel entitled "Sue You Have Seen" (punnily derived from "see you soon!"). The second is "The Remarkable Case of Samuel Bruehl," an ironically grim tale about an ordinary man with a pronounced resemblance to an infamous criminal (both even have identical scars shaped like a tiny footprint on their faces). The latter is a very eerie piece that Poe might have written. Either Alfred Hitchcock or Rod Serling could have put it in their famous TV shows.

Re: The Staying Power of James Thurber

Campaspe — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 12:33:11 -0000

I am a fan as well. The Years With Ross is also hilarious, though I have a vague memory of reading that it angered some New Yorker writers. (But it seems that any writing about the New Yorker is bound to anger some New Yorker writers, doesn't it?)

Re: The Staying Power of James Thurber

Claire — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 12:10:31 -0000

Stephen, thanks for reminding me it's time to pull out my Thurber collection again. God, you're right, he's still so funny. I'm glad you and your son read it together.