Biographical notes and links to other resources in print and on the Web.Insert copy here, which should vary depending on your region. Ohio University Press, 1969.Charles S. Holmes. . James Thurber, in full James Grover Thurber, (born December 8, 1894, Columbus, Ohio, U.S.—died November 2, 1961, New York City, New York), American writer and cartoonist, whose well-known and highly acclaimed writings and drawings picture the urban man as one who escapes into fantasy because he is befuddled and beset by a world that he neither created nor understands. His works have frequently been adapted into films, including When Thurber was seven years old, he and one of his brothers were playing a From 1918 to 1920, Thurber worked as a code clerk for the Thurber married Althea Adams in 1922, but the marriage, as he later wrote to a friend, devolved into “a relationship charming, fine, and hurting.”Thurber's behavior became erratic and unpredictable in his last year. AKA James Grover Thurber. “His drawings have lasted, in the largest sense, because they’re nowhere in the vicinity of mediocrity. And…what a good and serious writer he is when he has the reputation of being a humorist. The Man Who Was Walter Mitty: The Life and Work of James Thurber. Internationally recognized as one of the preeminent humorists in American history, Columbus’s native son, James Thurber, created an unparalleled array of some three dozen books: short stories, autobiography, plays, fables, biography, books for young readers, and humor: parodies, spoofs, farces, self-deprecating narratives, hilarious caricatures, exaggerated anecdotes, mock-journalism—the face and force of humor has known no greater master and innovator.When you add Thurber’s comedic gifts as a visual art, his canon is without parallel. Thurber began to write for the school newspaper, as well as edit OSU’s humor magazine, and played active roles in the dramatic club, writing plays and songs. James Thurber. Ogden Nash, Dorothy Parker, Groucho Marx, Henri Matisse, W. Somerset Maugham, Ernest Hemingway, T. S. Eliot, Alistair Cooke, Clifton Fadiman, Russell Baker, George Plimpton, Fran Lebowitz, Garrison Keillor, Peter DeVries—generations have acclaimed Thurber as the 20th century’s preeminent humorist. The Clocks of Columbus. He towers over all.”“Thurber made the seals bark! Owing to these, his school days began with a certain frailty and introspection, although his years at East High School blossomed with honors, the class presidency, and recognition of his writing and drawing abilities. Thurber: A Biography. It’s unique. University of Nebraska Press, 1994.Harrison Kinney. In the decades since his death, some of his work has grown dated. And the significance of his works continues to delight and inspire 21st century admirers. His drawings not only changed the very nature of the cartoon, but also the very possibility for the unstudied, spontaneous line in fine art. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1975. Born: 8-Dec-1894 Birthplace: Columbus, OH Died: 2-Nov-1961 Location of death: New York City Cause of death: Aneurysm Remains: Buried, Green Lawn Cemetery, Columbus, OH. Remember Laughter: A Life of James Thurber. Thurber’s studies at Ohio State University included a variety of predicaments such as military drill. Regardless of method, his cartoons became as noted as his writings; they possessed an eerie, wobbly feel that seems to mirror his idiosyncratic view on life.
And here is just a bouquet of praise from writers of nearly every genre: “Thurber’s wit sustains life. Thurber died November 8, 1961, after surgery to remove a brain tumor. . He once wrote that people said it looked like he drew them under water. Thurber was born in Columbus, Ohio, to Charles L. Thurber and Mary Agnes "Mame" (née Fisher) Thurber on December 8, 1894. A company town in every sense of the word, Thurber’s birth, development, and death were purely dictated by the coal industry and every inch of the ground it sat on was owned by the Texas and Pacific Coal Company. It makes people happier, like ice cream.”“[before I started writing] I had heard of S. J. Perelman, James Thurber and their like, but I was also aware that they were heavily influenced by me, even lifting some of my ideas, backdating them, and carefully inserting them in magazines from the 30's with the clever use of a razor blade and glue.”“…the consummate chronicler of our twentieth-century jitters…[Thurber] has more staying power than many readers imagine for beneath the folds of ‘humor’ ticks a vision of modern life that is so melancholy, so dark, that humor may be the only means it could be effectively presented.”“’Perhaps this will refresh your memory!’ is among my favorite Thurber cartoons.