My World and Welcome to It

Rating:
Summary: A Minor Collection by a Great American Humorist
Review: James Thurber is justly famous as one of 20th Century America's most astute humourists--but MY WORLD AND WELCOME TO IT does not really display the author to his best advantage. Even so, it does contain a few gems that make purchase of this title necessary to Thurber fans.

The showpiece of this collection is the famous but somewhat over-rated "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," but MY WORLD also includes a number of seldom anthologized pieces that show Thurber's wit at a high-water mark, including "The Whip-Poor-Will," "A Friend to Alexander," and "The MacBeth Murder Mystery." It also includes several examples of Thurber's acid perspective on the battle of the sexes, such as "Death in the Zoo," and several memorable examples of his ability to wring laughter from the perfidies of language, such as "What Do You Mean, It 'Was' Brilling?" and "Here Lies Miss Gorby."

But the bulk of MY WORLD consists of much less focused material that Thurber casually produced for THE NEW YORKER--pieces which are mildly humorous examinations of everything from French guidebooks to 19th century copies of the English magazine PUNCH. Thurber's clever prose lends such pieces considerable charm, but they are decidedly minor works when compaired with the side-splitting classics found in other collections. Thurber fans, of course, will be delighted by most of it, but newcomers would likely be happier with such collections as A THURBER CARNIVAL.

Rating:
Summary: Constant Companion
Review: This collection of short essays and stories is marvellous. I have carried it with me on every trip I have taken since I first read it. I have my grandfather's copy, which has been on a longtime loan (say, ten years...) I am fondest of the essays, which range from clever little tirades against the Telephone Company and the Motor Vehicle Bureau to accounts and commentaries on Thurber's travels in France and Italy. It is really a wonderful wonderful book, very funny and acute. Please read it.