| In this dissertation, I analyze the humorous writing of James Thurber through the lens of biography and humor theory. In Chapter 1, I examine the techniques, for example, the drawing of eccentric characters, misunderstanding and non sequitur, that Thurber uses to achieve humor. Thurber's choice of humor techniques was influenced by his life experiences, such as his dealings with his offbeat family and his association with The New Yorker colleagues, particularly E. B. White and Harold Ross. To discover why Thurber's devices are comic, I apply various humor theories, focusing on those of Henri Bergson and John Morreall. I reflect on the sexism and racism in Thurber's texts and consider how these affected the longevity of his humor. In Chapter 2, I trace the change in Thurber's humor from his time of partial sight to his later blindness and note a change from warm, self-deprecating and more visual humor, found in My Life and Hard Times for instance, to humor based in wordplay and in the aural of his fantasy works. In chapter 3, I look at Thurber's complicated relationship with women. As a young man, he idealized his female romantic interests, and when they inevitably disappointed him, he blamed them. In addition, he doubted his own masculinity and sexual prowess. These factors combined, and the result was Thurber's misogynistic behavior. I examine how Thurber's misogynistic views are represented in the sexism of his writing and how the sexism affected the humor, which moves from Horatian satire to a harsher satire to fairy tales where the sexism is nearly absent. In Chapter 4, I present my own humorous writing and compare and contrast my humor techniques to Thurber's. The dissertation will prove helpful to Thurber scholars and to academics studying 20th century American humorists. In addition, writing teachers will find the sections on comic techniques useful in the classroom, and humor writers can apply Thurber's devices to their own efforts. |
