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by: James Thurber
List Price: $14.95Amazon.com's Price: $10.17 You Save: $4.78 (32%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 818.5209
EAN: 9780060932879
ISBN: 0060932872
Label: Harper Perennial Modern Classics
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial Modern Classics
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 448
Publication Date: October 01, 1999
Publisher: Harper Perennial Modern Classics
Release Date: September 08, 1999
Sales Rank: 226963
Studio: Harper Perennial Modern Classics
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
James Thurber's unique ability to convey the vagaries of life in a funny, witty, and often satirical way earned him accolades as one of the finest humorists of the twentieth century. A bestseller upon its initial publication in 1945. The Thurber Carnival captures the depth and breadth of his talent. The pieces here, almost all of which first appeared in The New Yorker, include selections from such beloved classics as My World and Welcome to It, The Owl in the Attic, The Seal in the Bathroom, and Men, Women and Dogs. Thurber's take on life, society, and human nature is timeless and will continue to delight readers even as they recognize a bit of themselves in his brilliant sketches.
Amazon.com:
After the chuckles and amidst the chortles, the first-time reader of The Thurber Carnival is bound to utter a discreetly voiced 'Huh?' Like Cracker Jacks, there are surprises inside James Thurber's delicious 1945 smorgasbord of essays, stories, and sketches. This festival is, surprises and all, a collection of earlier collections (mostly), including, among others, gems from My World--and Welcome to It, Let Your Mind Alone!, and The Middle Aged Man on the Flying Trapeze. Needless to say, there are also numerous cartoons that, by themselves, are worth the price of admission. While redoubling Thurber's deserved reputation as a laugh-out-loud humorist and teller-of-gentle-tales, it reintroduces him as a thinker-of-thoughts. To wit: his 1933 'Preface to a Life,' in which he observes himself while discussing 'writers of light pieces running from a thousand to two thousand words': To call such persons 'humorists,' a loose-fitting and ugly word, is to miss the nature of their dilemma and the dilemma of their nature. The little wheels of their invention are set in motion by the damp hand of melancholy. Enjoy the surprises, certainly, but revel in the candy-coated popcorn and peanuts. As in 'More Alarms at Night,' in which a teenaged Thurber intrudes upon his sleeping father, a skittish man named Charles, because he can't recall the name Perth Amboy, New Jersey. Coincidentally, his father has just been frightened half to death by Thurber's brother, who had earlier stalked into his room saying coldly, 'Buck, your time has come.' 'Listen,' I said. 'Name some towns in New Jersey quick!' It must have been around three in the morning. Father got up, keeping the bed between him and me, and started to pull his trousers on. 'Don't bother about dressing,' I said. 'Just name some towns in New Jersey.' While he hastily pulled on his clothes--I remember he left his socks off and put his shoes on his bare feet--father began to name, in a shaky voice, various New Jersey cities. I can still see him reaching for his coat without taking his eyes off me. 'Newark,' he said, 'Jersey City, Atlantic City, Elizabeth, Paterson, Passaic, Trenton, Jersey City, Trenton, Paterson--' 'It has two names,' I snapped. 'Elizabeth and Paterson,' he said. Of course, things turn out fine, as well they should. And why not? The best of Thurber, which The Thurber Carnival arguably is, is sublime; surprising insight and wry observations tossed lightly and served constantly with effortless good humor and an obvious love for all things gently eccentric. --Michael Hudson
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - A great book is timeless
Actually, I purchased "The Thurber Carnival" for a friend who used to raised bloodhounds and who has a great sense of humor. Very shortly after I sent it to him, he called to say that he had read it from cover to cover, enjoying it immensely, getting many laughs, and loving the sketches of bloodhounds (altered somewhat). My father loved James Thurber and collected many of his books, including this one. Its stories are timeless, and I was fortunate to have found a hardcover copy in such excellent ... Read More
Rating: - Hooray for Thurber!
A great introduction to this wonderful humorist. I dare you not to laugh out loud at "The Night the Bed Fell." Go on, try it.
Rating:  - Thurber by a golden oldie
I first came across Thurber when I was 18 in 1943. The books were in hardback and of course very cheap in those day. I sampled one and then bought the rest. Thurber is very witty, very funny and is easy to relate to. His drawings are wonderful - simple and look so easy. I liked the essays and I loved the cartoons - the one I like best is a chap introducing his wife to a friend 'That's my first wife up there (she is crouching on top of a bookcase and this is the present Mrs Harris.' Another lovely ... Read More
Rating:  - The Artistic Humorist
THE THURBER CARNIVAL is an excellent collection if only because it contains the complete MY LIFE AND HARD TIMES. In the early seventies, when my grandmother gave me a respectful and wonderfully brief biography called THE CLOCKS OF COLUMBUS, I became a THURBER fan. I was in Junior High and Thurber, dead more than ten years already, was enjoying something of a vogue. Most of his books were back in print. Today, we're down to about a third or less of what he wrote. The Library of America's collection ... Read More
Rating: - THURBER!!!!
The works and cartoons of James Thurber have had quite an influence on me over the years. At a very young age I was drawn to his cartoons (pardon the pun), and as I grew older developed a great appreciation of his writings. Decades after their inception, his works ring true.
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