Thursday, December 8

Happy Birthday


James Grover Thurber
December 8, 1894--November 2, 1961

I stumbled upon My Life and Hard Times in the junior high library when I was fourteen, and I've been laughing at it ever since. Should you have the dubious distinction of meeting me, the words "Briggs Beall", "Zenas died of the chestnut blight in '66", or "My mother thought--or rather knew,--that it was dangerous to drive a car without gasoline" will immediately incapacitate me long enough for you to escape. Most of the cartoon captions will work just as well; "What have you done with Dr. Millmoss?" or "Do you ever have fears that you will cease to be before your pen has gleaned your teeming brain?", just to list a couple of suggestions.

Thurber, Borges, Pynchon, and Raymond Chandler are the four writers whose every published word I think I've read. Still working on the Proust thing.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Buck! Your time has come!

Anonymous said...

The Unicorn is a mythical beast....

Anonymous said...

Some nights she threw them all.

James Briggs Stratton "Doghouse" Riley said...

Gee, I love you guys. "Perth Amboy", too.

isabelita said...

"I come from haunts of coot and fern."

Anonymous said...

Oh crap! Perth Amboy! How did I forget that? Now I'll never sleep tonight.

Anonymous said...

Sadly, today is also the b-day of mAnn Coulter. Meaning the universe is still fucking us over with that yin thing and that yang thing.

handdrummer said...

All right, have it your way--you heard a seal bark.

Anonymous said...

If you haven't already, start digging into Robert Benchley. Just keep plenty of underwear changes handy.