A review by ianbanks
The Genius of James Thurber by James Thurber

4.0

James Thurber is that rare bird of literature who specialised in short pieces and was able to wrangle a living from it. Some of the work anthologised here is just superb. Other pieces are just tolerable. To be honest, the style of humour has dated somewhat and what may have been uproarious even fifty years ago is only mildly amusing now. However, there were a few articles and stories that felt as fresh as if they had been published this week. Part of the problem is that Mr Thurber wrote on contemporary events and many of those have passed into obscurity, rendering his commentary on them almost meaningless. His style, though, is witty, charming and arch, which makes the reader feel as though the fault lies with them.