Short Biography: James Thurber

James Thurber (1894-1961), one of the country’s premiere humorists, was born in Columbus, Ohio and educated at Ohio State University, where he wrote for the school newspaper. After working as a reporter for the Columbus Dispatch and later a Parisbased correspondent for the Chicago Tribune, in 1927 he joined the staff of the New Yorker, a magazine with which he would be associated for the rest of his life (as a freelancer from 1936). His stylish wit marked by psychological insight, Thurber produced droll short stories, a comic play about college life, and a number of works of gentle satire on various subjects. He is probably best remembered today for his cartoons and drawings, of which there are many collections. These often depict hapless middle-aged men besieged by the demands of domineering wives and beset by the petty irritations of everyday life.

James Thurber University Days
In “University Days,” the American humorist James Thurber writes comically about his college experience at Ohio State University. Thurber entertains and amuse while conveying his sense of frustration and bemusement at what he experience and observed there. Thurber arranges this excerpt from his autobiography, My Life and Hard Times, as a series of linked stories. In an anecdote about his botany class, Thurber describes his frustration at not being able to se see what he is supposed to see through a microscope, and what, presumably, his fellow classmates see. He structures the botany anecdote to allow for the hope of success, only to dash that hope with comic deflation. Through stories about gym and journalism and military drill, Thurber creates a comic persona that is, paradoxically, both blind and insightful. IN showing readers what Thurber the character didn‟t see, Thurber the writer shows us some things we can smile about. His anecdote about economics class shifts the focus from Thurber himself to another hapless student—a Polish football player, Bolenciecwz, who serves as a comic