James Thurber and me

I felt like I grew up reading James Thurber-or at least hearing him quoted. My Dad is a big fan of Thurber-we had a subscription to The New Yorker when I was growing up and there was always "well, Thurber said..." along with the "well, Shakespeare said..."-my family loves to quote. There was also a TV show based on Thurber's life that came on when I was a child-it was called My World-and Welcome To It (my family and I may have been the only people who watched as it lasted barely a season). So, considering all these points, it was a shock to me to open up his short book My Life and Hard Times and realized he died before I was born. How could this be? My Dad and I always talked about The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and how much we liked Thurber's cartoons and how he gotten along (or not) with Harold Ross, Dorothy Parker and Alexander Woolcott-my Dad loves talking about that sort of thing. How could he have died before I was born when it felt like I grew up with him? Nonetheless, it is true-and I only recently read My Life and Hard Times, which I heartily recommend. It's a very short read with not a word wasted. It's hilarious, with quite the portrait of his family and their genius for bizarre adventures in the night-time. How often did a story start "it was late at night and I was taking a bath, or "It was late at night and my brother decided to play a joke on our Father"? What was up with these people they always chose the middle of the night to create the mayhem for which they had such a talent? These stories of his family (and Ohio State and the draft) are short, sweet and lesson to short-story writers everywhere on how much can be done with very few words. I have to say though, that my favorite part was when he talked about traveling to far-away lands, and wanting to have an air of Conradean mystery (yes, I love Conrad too) and instead of having people look at him quizzically or with a wondering eye-they followed him to try and sell him baskets...he was no mystery to them.

So go read it-and while you're at it, go read Saki's The Open Window-it's a story for which I have a great affinity....