Fables for Our Time and Famous Poems [Hardcover]

James Thurber (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1989

James Thurber has been called "one of our great American institutions' (Stanley Walker), "a magnificent satirist (Boston Transcript), and "a Joyce in false-face" (New York Times). The New York Herald Tribune submits that he is "as blithe as Benchley...as savage as Swift...surprisingly wise and witty," while the Times of London, out of enthusiasm and a profound regard for truth, proclaims that "Thurber is Thurber."

In Fables for Our Time, Thurber the Moralist is in the ascendancy. Here are a score or more lessons-in-prose dedicated to conventional sinners and proving--what you will. The fables are imperishably illustrated, and are supplemented by Mr. Thurber's own pictorial interpretations of famous poems in a wonderful and joyous assemblage.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

James Thurber (1894)-1961) created some thirty volumes of humor, fiction, children's books, cartoons, and essays in just about as many years. A founding member of The New Yorker staff, Thurber wrote and illustrated such enduring books as The Thurber Carnival and My Life and Hard Times, which have appeared in countless editions and dozens of languages throughout the world. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Amereon Ltd (February 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0848812069
• ISBN-13: 978-0848812065
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,539,906 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The years cannot diminish nor time betray, June 21, 2004

By 

PC (Hamilton, TX, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fables for Our Time and Famous Poems Illustrated (Paperback)

I first read Thurber, Fables for Our Time being my first encounter, about the time I learned to read. Fables sounded suitable for a 7 year old looking for something more than the Bobbsey Twins, so I plunged into a surreal world of misogyny, mayhem, morality and madness, and thoroughly loved it! Upon discovering our family library included some of Thurber's "children's books" (13 Clocks), I began to plumb the depths of one of the great humorists/cartoonists of the 20th century. In more than 50 years, I have not encountered one so readable, enjoyable and wildly, understatedly funny. Perhaps some of the pieces are dated, for who these days can even recognize such poems as Ben Bolt and Barbara Fretchie (?), or Young Lochinvar? That is a loss in today's education, so I charge Amazon customers: introduce your children to Thurber early, when their minds are not cluttered with pop culture and "required reading". Take the time to give them context for very old stories and poems, so they may enjoy them as we did. Let them look at a world that was, at least in one man's wit, and perhaps they won't be so overwhelmed when they begin to understand the world we have left to them.

20 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "early to rise and early to bed..., October 22, 1999

By 

W. Kiernan (Lutz, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fables for Our Time and Famous Poems Illustrated (Paperback)

...makes a man healthy, wealthy and dead."

Quoting one of the fables; I remember reading this book thirty years ago. It is superb. The pictures are excellent too. I can still recall the man leaping down into the lion's pit to get the lady's glove, also the pictures of birds (shrikes, I think). I'll buy this one right away, my daughter will love it.

5.0 out of 5 stars A national treasure, May 14, 2011

By 

JP - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fables for Our Time and Famous Poems Illustrated (Paperback)

James Thurber is simply amazing both as a writer and graphic artist. His dry sense of humor is LOL, with philosophical content. His illustrations are whimsical, full of motion, and have the simplicity of Neanderthal cave paintings. An absolutely brilliant Man!