- Paperback: 1196 pages
- Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks; New edition edition (9 April 1992)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0192829599
- ISBN-13: 978-0192829597
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 13.2 x 5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 779,646 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
Frank Muir guides the reader through five centuries of humorous prose in the English language. Starting in London with William Caxton and a preface written and printed in 1477, and ending with P.G. Wodehouse whose last novel was published in 1977, the route is meandering: from England to Ireland and Scotland, back to England again, on to America, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. There are examples chosen from humorous fiction, letters, and journalism written by over 200 authors and ranging from medieval jests to the "New Yorker" and Beachcomber; from Thomas Nashe and Tom Brown's galloping bawdy to Jane Austen and on to Garrison Keillor and Arthur Marshall; from the jokes in Samuel Johnson's "Dictionary" to Kingsley Amis's "Lucky Jim" and his hangover. The great humorous writers such as Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, and P.G. Wodehouse are given a kind of mini-anthology of their own so that the range and versatility of their work can be appreciated. The extracts are accompanied by a commentary which sets the writers in their historical context with items of contemporary gossip and anecdotal biography.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Two reasons why this book is one of my all-time favourites -
First, it is great to browse through, spending five minutes with some obscure 17th c. author, and the next five with Thurber or Saki.
Secondly, there are at least ten books which I read after having read an extract of them in this compendium - most of whom I would never have heard of otherwise.
Frank Muir has chosen the extracts very carefully, and he guides you through the story behind each author and extract in a very informative way. Even though he clearly values puns and wordplay over all other forms of literary humour, the collection is in evenly balanced - from the surrealist formalism of Perelman to the charming narrative of some preRaphaelite's granddaughter, everything is represented here.
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