Remember Laughter: A Life of James Thurber

James Thurber is my favorite American humorist, and "Remember Laughter" paints a complete picture of this very complex individual. I'm impressed that it's not just a cheerlead for Thurber--the book celebrates his accomplishments without explaining away or excusing his frustrations and dark, alcoholic side. Any fan of Thurber or student of American literature needs to read this. Well done, Mr. Grauer.

American humorist James Thurber (1894 - 1961) brought us Walter Mitty, and now freelance journalist Neil Grauer brings us James Thurber in all his comic and caustic complexity. A native of Ohio and graduate of Ohio State University, Thurber began as a code clerk in the Department of State. After working as a journalist in Paris, he began a life-long association with New Yorker magazine, whose pages were brightened with Thurber's short stories and classic cartoons in which his misanthropy is often present as animals ape the behavior of humans and vice vera. Always aware of the frailties and pratfalls of human beings as they faced life's predicaments, Thurber penned among others, "The Middle-Aged Man on the Flying Trapeze" and "The Thurber Carnival." In 1940 he joined Eliot Nugent to write a drama of college life, "The Male Animal," which, along with other Thurber works, was made into a motion picture. This funny man's last years were relentlessly bleak. Unable to cope with the loss of his sight, Thurber alienated many of his former colleagues with boring boasts of his past successes. Grauer does not gloss over the humorist's flaws, instead presents a concise human portrait of one who brought laughter to the lives of many. - Gail Cooke