Black Lamb

A Week in Literary History

December 8th, 2002

In 1894, American humorist James Thurber (The Middle-Aged Man on the Flying Trapeze, 1935), is born in Columbus, Ohio.

James Thurber, b. December 8, 1894, d. 1961

Thurber’s humor is not precisely like that of other talented North Americans. Like Robert Benchley, S.J. Perelman, or Stephen Leacock he can be goofy, satirical, sly, or hilarious, but an elusive quality, tinged with melancholy, is always present in his stories. T.S. Eliot said, “There is a criticism of life at the bottom of it.” The books listed below, with the exception of Is Sex Necessary? (a wacky and perversely wise “manual”), are collections of pieces he published over a long career, mostly in The New Yorker. They constitute a sumptuous compendium of timeless morsels.

Suggested Reading Essays, Stories, Sketches, & Drawngs Is Sex Necessary?, 1929 (with E.B. White). The Owl in the Attic and Other Perplexities, 1931. The Seal in the Bedroom and Other Predicaments, 1932. My Life and Hard Times, 1933. The Middle-Aged Man on the Flying Trapeze, 1935. My World—And Welcome to It!, 1942. Men, Women and Dogs, 1943. The Thurber Carnival, 1945. The Beast in Me and Other Animals, 1948. The Thurber Album, 1952. Thurber Country, 1953. Fables & Fantasies Fables for Our Time, 1940. The Thirteen Clocks, 1950. Further Fables for Our Time, 1956.

Posted by: The Editors
Category: Books and Authors, A Week in Literary History | Link to this Entry