Thurber Thursday: “The Best Thing The New Yorker Has Ever Done…”

“The Best Thing The New Yorker Has Ever Done…”

I recently dipped into the big box (shown here) here at the Spill that holds numerous Thurber files donated to the Spill library by Michael Rosen, the fellow behind so many Thurber-centric books, including A Mile And A Half Of Lines: The Art Of James Thurber,  Collecting Himself: James Thurber On Writing and Writers, and The Genius Of James Thurber.

 

In a folder marked “Interviews & Quotes” I came across a letter Thurber wrote in October of 1952. I won’t repost the entire letter to avoid infringing on rights issues, but will show you two sentences that are core. I love it when folks take a stand (i.e., “the best thing…”):

“The best thing The New Yorker has ever done in comic art is the probable or recognizable caption dealing with the actual relationships of people in our middle-class society. All of us have had a fling at fantasy and formula, but they should never predominate.” 

Thurber was a master of writing captions that, however odd (“All right, have it your way — you heard a seal bark!”), convinced the reader it was a real moment — a hilariously real moment. Instead of obviously trying to be humorous — the kind of writing that shows the sweat — Thurber’s captions (and the drawings that accompanied the captions) convinced us we were hearing an overheard remark — unscripted, unrehearsed. It’s a peculiar and very particular way of writing — a sleight of hand — that is very difficult to pull off, but incredibly rewarding when it works.

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James Thurber’s A-Z Entry:

James Thurber Born, Columbus, Ohio, December 8, 1894. Died 1961, New York City. New Yorker work: 1927 -1961, with several pieces run posthumously. According to the New Yorker’s legendary editor, William Shawn, “In the early days, a small company of writers, artists, and editors — E.B. White, James Thurber, Peter Arno, and Katharine White among them — did more to make the magazine what it is than can be measured.”

Key cartoon collection: The Seal in the Bedroom and Other Predicaments (Harper & Bros., 1932). Key anthology (writings & drawings): The Thurber Carnival (Harper & Row, 1945). There have been a number of Thurber biographies. Burton Bernstein’s Thurber (Dodd, Mead, 1975) and Harrison Kinney’s James Thurber: His Life and Times (Henry Holt & Co., 1995) are essential. Website