James Thurber

A comprehensive collection of the American humorist's best work-including "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty"-plus original drawings and a chronology of Thurber's own troubled life

James Thurber, whimsical fantasist and deadpan chronicler of everyday absurdities, brought American humor into the 20th century. His comic persona, a modern city-dweller whose zaniest flights of free association are tinged with anxiety, remains hilarious, subtly disturbing, and instantly recognizable.

Here, in over 1,000 pages, editor Garrison Keillor presents the best and most extensive collection ever assembled. Pieces include "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" and "The Catbird Seat," the brilliantly satiricalFables for Our Time, the classicMy Life and Hard Times, and the best ofThe Owl in the Attic,Let Your Mind Alone!,My World-And Welcome to It, and the other famous books. Plus 500 wonderful drawings, includingThe Seal in the Bedroomand celebrated sequences like "The Masculine Approach" and "The War Between Men and Women." Rounding out the volume is a selection fromThe Years with Ross, a memoir of theNew Yorkerpublisher, and a number of wonderful early pieces never collected by Thurber.

Only a book of this scope can do justice to Thurber's extraordinary career and to the many unexpected turns of his comic genius.


LIBRARY OF AMERICAis an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation's literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America's best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.