“What Do You Think About This Caption?” There are enough Thurber books around to keep me re-reading til the lights go out. Harrison Kinney’s James Thurber: His Life and Times is just about at the top of my re-read list, although Burton Bernstein’s 1975 Thurber: a Biography is dearer to me. It was my first introduction to a Thurber biography,
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From Michael Rosen’s Thurber files, this quote from what I believe to be a Book Of The Month Club newsletter article by Wolcott Gibbs. Here’s Gibbs talking about Thurber transitioning from a managing editor position at The New Yorker to a Talk of the Town rewrite editor: “I think in the end Thurber fired himself as an editor…and began to
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“Thurber is The New Yorker‘s most important writer.” So said Dwight Macdonald in the Partisan Review way way back in 1937. Whether you agree or not, it’s an interesting declaration. What’s more interesting, is what else Mr. Macdonald had to say about Thurber: “In general, his treatment of the classic New Yorker comic theme (which he, more than anyone else,
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In a year celebrating a centennial, it’s natural to look back. And so off we go through the time tunnel to 1932 and to the Fifth New Yorker Album of drawings (or, cartoons, if you prefer). Why the Fifth? Because it’s Thurber Thursday, and the Fifth’s Foreword was written by James Thurber. I enjoy re-reading The New Yorker Album Forewords.
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