Perspective

James Thurber writes these reminiscences of his youth in 1933, when he has won acclaim for his cartoons and stories in the New Yorker magazine. He has also co-authored his first book with E. B. White.

Thurber narrates in the first person past tense, while frequently reproducing snippets of conversation in dialect. In some instances he is more of an observer than a participant, but is often caught up in the middle of the chaos which is his family life. He branches out to the wider community only while describing the 1913 panic over a supposedly broken dam, his college years at Columbus State University, and his frequent attendance at draft physicals, although from the start his deficient vision results in his being rejected.

Thurber treats this focused collection as autobiography, and briefly mentions some characteristics of the genre. While noting that some consider the tales fiction, John K. Hutchins...