Wednesday, July 09, 2008

WITH APOLOGIES TO MR. THURBER...


In one week I start my drive from Montreal to Columbus, Ohio to begin my month long residency at the Thurber House.

Above is one of Thurber's classic New Yorker cartoons, slightly altered to include yours truly inside his world. (I included this in my application for the residency thinking they'd either have my drawing pens confiscated - or laugh... lucky for me I still have my pens!)

While my intent is to spend my month reworking/editing my new book, MILO - I also hope to immerse myself as much as I can inside the world of James Thurber. Of course, living inside the attic he wrote about so often in "My Life and Hard Times" is a pretty great immersing!

By the way - I read a few chapters of My Life and Hard Times aloud last night at bedtime - and wife and I laughed so much. He describes his Columbus life with such a dry sense of humor - and his cartoons just add so much to the fun of each chapter.

And for those who may not know his work - here is the Thurber cartoon that I "adjusted" above:
Ah, Thurber. An ironic genius with sparse lines and no shortage of perfect words.

3 comments:

web said...

When cartoonists collide. :-)

SilberBook-Blog said...

...it's always an inky mess! But what a wonderful way to draw inspiration! (sorry - bad pun alert!)

alan

Yann said...

thurber is so good and especially inspirational, a real artist for the artist with his dry humour and to the point drawnings, I got to know his work by John Lennon who in his drawing and humour was also high influenced by J. Thurber...