Most Popular Books by James Thurber

A giant of American humor makes his Penguin Classics debut with “probably the best book in the world” (Neil Gaiman, from the Introduction), in a stunning Deluxe Edition featuring the original, full-color illustrations The hands of all thirteen clocks stand still in the gloomy castle on a lonely hill where a wicked Duke lives with his niece, the beautiful Princess Saralinda. The Duke fancies he has frozen time, for he is afraid that one day a Prince may come and win away the hand of the Princess—the only warm hand in the castle. To thwart that fate, he sets impossible tasks for Saralinda’s suitors. But when the bold Prince Zorn of Zorna arrives, disguised as a wandering minstrel, and helped by the enigmatic Golux, the cold Duke may at last have met his match. Since it was first published in 1950, James Thurber’s sublimely whimsical fairy tale of love forestalled but ultimately fulfilled has delighted readers of all ages. It is published here with Marc Simont’s enchanting, full-color illustrations from the first edition. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

When he finds himself in serious trouble with the police on a stolen car charge, fifteen-year-old Johnny Pierce tries to analyze the reasons for his predicament.

Tommy Turner is an English teacher at football-crazed Midwestern University. Although he is uninvolved with the politics of the day, Tommy suddenly finds himself the center of a free-speech debate on campus. An editorial in a student magazine praises him for planning to read Bartolomeo Vanzetti''s sentencing statement to his class as an example of eloquent composition, even in broken English composed by a non-professional. The school''s conservative trustees, led by Ed Keller threaten to fire Tommy if he doesn''t withdraw the reading from his lecture. The subject of free speech and Tommy''s dilemma of conscience anchor the dramatic subplot''s social significance. The lighter comic triangle plot concerns a return visit to attend the big football game by Joe Ferguson, a former football hero and onetime love interest of Turner''s wife Ellen. Joe is recently divorced and he rekindles Ellen''s romantic notions at the very moment when her marriage to Tommy is being tested by the events on campus.

In 1923, the young reporter James Thurber was given a half a page in the Sunday Evening Dispatch of Columbus, Ohio, every week to fill with anything he wanted. For most of that year, he turned out book reviews, humorous commentary, jokes, stories, and even literary criticism. He also wrote a series of 13 short Sherlockian parodies — 10,000 words in all — starring Blue Ploermell, a “psychosocial” detective with a fondness for animal crackers. Aided (and occasionally impeded) by his Chinese manservant, Gong Low, Ploermell investigates cases marked by his cock-eyed deductions, loopy logic, and a knack for leaping to the wrong conclusion. These juvenilia represents Thurber’s first attempts at learning the craft of humor writing. Looking back at this work years later, he even considered publishing the Ploermell stories. The Cases of Blue Ploermell, for the first time in a century, collects the 13 stories. Edited and annotated by Bill Peschel, they show Thurber trying his hand at characterization, story structure, ethnic humor, and serial writing in a style rarely seen at any newspaper. In addition to the annotations, Peschel wrote essays on Thurber’s years in Columbus, Ohio; journalism in the 1920s; the state of Sherlockian parodies; and depictions of Chinese men and women in American popular culture. Note: The 13 stories are very short, and take up 40 pages of this 200-page book. The rest of the book consists of these essays: “Becoming James Thurber” (39 pages); “Journalism in Thurber’s Time” (4 pages); “Sherlockian Parodies in the 1920s” (8 pages); “The Ancestors of Gong Low” (13 pages); “The Chinese in Popular Culture” (35 pages); movie reviews (19 pages); chronology (9 pages); lists (7 pages). SHORT DESCRIPTION: In 1923, a young James Thurber wrote 13 short Sherlockian parodies (10,000 words) for his newspaper in Columbus, Ohio. They starred Blue Ploermell, a “psychosocial” detective with a fondness for animal crackers. Aided by his Chinese manservant, he solves cases with his cock-eyed deductions and a knack for leaping to the wrong conclusion. This book contains the stories plus essays about Thurber.

Gathers previously uncollected cartoons and humorous stories.

21 previously uncollected pieces, including 3 short stories and 7 profiles of fellow-craftsmen. Foreword by Helen Thurber.

At 19 Lester John was an Olympic hopeful with all of the promise in the world. One accident took it all away. 11 years later he is tortured by the physical and mental pain of losing the only thing he ever wanted. Hung over, he stumbles into work Monday morning as his supervisor calls him into her office. To his surprise she gives him a week off to answer two questions, "Do you find any sense of accomplishment from your job and are you satisfied with your life?" The catch: she hands him a small book that has the power to give him his dreams back. Meanwhile, his best friend Jerry Humberger is on the brink of creating the perfect marijuana plant called, "SUPER-WEED" that will revolutionize the drug industry. Friendships will be tested as these two factory workers in rural Pennsylvania will both stumble upon discoveries that will put them on opposite sides of a hidden war. A novel of supernatural suspense and a love triangle that could make one man the most powerful person in the world.

Many of his short stories are humorous fictional memoirs from his life, but he also wrote darker material. The Middle-Aged Man on the Flying Trapeze features several short stories with a tense undercurrent of marital discord. The book was published the year of his divorce and remarriage.

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