After this Thurber returned to Columbus, where he began his writing career as a reporter for the Columbus Dispatch from 1921 to 1924. and then at the American Embassy in Paris, France. In 1995 he was posthumously awarded a degree.įrom 1918 to 1920, at the close of World War I, Thurber worked as a code clerk for the Department of State, first in Washington, D.C. He never graduated from the University because his poor eyesight prevented him from taking a mandatory ROTC course.
During his childhood he was unable to participate in sports and activities because of his injury, and instead developed a creative imagination, which he shared in his writings.įrom 1913 to 1918, Thurber attended The Ohio State University, where he was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity.
This injury would later cause him to be almost entirely blind. Because of the lack of medical technology, Thurber lost his eye. Once, while playing a game of William Tell, his brother William shot James in the eye with an arrow. Thurber had two brothers, William and Robert. Thurber described his mother as a "born comedienne" and "one of the finest comic talents I think I have ever known." She was a practical joker, on one occasion pretending to be crippled and attending a faith healer revival, only to jump up and proclaim herself healed. His father, a sporadically employed clerk and minor politician who dreamed of being a lawyer or an actor, is said to have been the inspiration for the small, timid protagonist typical of many of his stories. Both of his parents greatly influenced his work. Thurber and Mary Agnes (Mame) Fisher Thurber. It is a collection of many of his best and most amusing short stories, fables, and cartoons that were originally published between 1931 - 1945.Thurber was born in Columbus, Ohio to Charles L. It is also a book from which I have read many stories to others. In its original book form, "The Thurber Carnival" has always been my favorite book to read numerous stories from (over and over again over the past 50 years). I am now the age (65) that Thurber was when he (and director Burgess Meredith) won a Special Tony Award in April 1960 for the Broadway production of "A Thurber Carnival". I didn't quite get it until I found myself doing so as well several years later as a teenager. I first became aware of James Thurber back in the 1960s when I'd see my father reading his work and laughing to himself. It also includes several interview clips of Thurber himself. It contains personal recollections and insights from many who knew Thurber personally, as well as wonderful examples of his writing and cartoons. I thoroughly enjoyed watching this film and highly recommend it.
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