One Thousand Years of Laughter: An Anthology a Classic Comic Prose [Audiobook] [Audio CD]

David Timson (Compiler), Griff Rhys Jones (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2002

This delightfully entertaining anthology presents some of the funniest extracts in English literature. It opens with Anglo-Saxon riddles - 'they couldn't keep themselves warm on a diet of Beowulf' - and continues with medieval memories, Tudor comic turns and Restoration buffoonery. The rise of the novel in the 18th century brought classic humor from Swift, Sterne and Smollett, the mantle then passing to Charles Dickens in the 19th, while in the first half of the 20th century emerged unforgettable comic writers as diverse as Dorothy Parker and P.G. Wodehouse.

Editorial Reviews

From AudioFile

This collection is amazing. It isn't always funny because in a thousand years standards of humor have changed drastically and topical puns from even a hundred years ago have aged badly. But when it is funny, it's fantastic. David Timson's selections are masterful, including everyone from Dickens to Wodehouse and Parker. The cast brings them fully to life, handling even the pauses and over accenting of syllables it takes to make some puns work, and switching accents from Twain's frontier English to Wodehouse's British. With selections from children's literature (THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS), wonderful nonsense (ALICE IN WONDERLAND), and satire, this anthology spans Anglo-American civilization, offering something for everyone. G.T.B. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks (November 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9626342692
• ISBN-13: 978-9626342695
• Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,647,527 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, July 20, 2003

By 

Gavin Wilson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: One Thousand Years of Laughter: An Anthology a Classic Comic Prose (Audio CD)

I'm normally a great fan of the Naxos audiobook surveys. I've already enjoyed the History of the Theatre and the Story of English Literature, both involving the participation of David Timson. But this one just doesn't work for me. Perhaps my sense of humour is too rooted in the present, but I chuckled at very few of the pre-1850 extracts.

And yet the compilation does have its moments. I will be spending more time with 'Diary of a Nobody', 'Three Men in a Boat' and 'The Young Visiters' as a direct result of listening to this.

The compilation finishes about halfway through CD4. Goodness knows why Naxos saw fit to add on Wilde's 'The Remarkable Rocket' after this. Just because you have the free space doesn't mean you can stuff any old trailer for another audiobook (in this case, 'The Happy Prince').