List of works by James Thurber

This is a list of works by James Thurber.

Children's books

Is Sex Necessary? Or, Why You Feel the Way You Do (1929 with E. B. White),

75th anniv. edition (2004) with foreword by John Updike, ISBN 0-06-073314-4

The Owl in the Attic and Other Perplexities, 1931
The Seal in the Bedroom and Other Predicaments, 1932
My Life and Hard Times, 1933, ISBN 0-06-093308-9
The Middle-Aged Man on the Flying Trapeze, 1935
Let Your Mind Alone! and Other More or Less Inspirational Pieces, 1937
The Last Flower, 1939, reissued 2007, ISBN 978-1-58729-620-8
Fables for Our Time and Famous Poems Illustrated, 1940, ISBN 0-06-090999-4
My World—And Welcome to It, 1942, ISBN 0-15-662344-7
Men, Women and Dogs, 1943
The Thurber Carnival (anthology), 1945, ISBN 0-06-093287-2,

ISBN 0-394-60085-1 (Modern Library Edition)

The Beast in Me and Other Animals, 1948, ISBN 0-15-610850-X
The Thurber Album, 1952
Thurber Country, 1953
Thurber's Dogs, 1955
Further Fables for Our Time, 1956
Alarms and Diversions (anthology), 1957
The Years with Ross, 1959, ISBN 0-06-095971-1
Lanterns and Lances, 1961

Many Moons, 1943
The Great Quillow, 1944
The White Deer, 1945
The 13 Clocks, 1950
The Wonderful O, 1957

Plays

The Male Animal, 1940 (with Elliott Nugent)
A Thurber Carnival, 1960

Posthumous books

Credos and Curios, 1962 (ed. Helen W. Thurber)
Thurber & Company, 1966 (ed. Helen W. Thurber)
Selected Letters of James Thurber, 1981 (ed. Helen W. Thurber & Edward Weeks) ISBN 978-0-316844-44-4
Collecting Himself: James Thurber on Writing and Writers, Humor and Himself, 1989 (ed. Michael J. Rosen)
Thurber on Crime, 1991 (ed. Robert Lopresti) ISBN 978-0-892964-50-5
People Have More Fun Than Anybody: A Centennial Celebration of Drawings and Writings by James Thurber, 1994 (ed. Michael J. Rosen) ISBN 978-0-151000-94-4^[1]
James Thurber: Writings and Drawings (anthology), 1996, (ed. Garrison Keillor), Library of America, ISBN 978-1-883011-22-2
The Dog Department: James Thurber on Hounds, Scotties, and Talking Poodles, 2001 (ed. Michael J. Rosen) ISBN 978-0-060196-56-1
The Thurber Letters: The Wit, Wisdom, and Surprising Life of James Thurber, 2002 (ed. Harrison Kinney, with Rosemary A. Thurber) ISBN 978-0-743223-43-0
Collected Fables, 2019 (ed. Michael J. Rosen), ISBN
A Mile and a Half of Lines: The Art of James Thurber, 2019 (ed. Michael J. Rosen) ISBN 978-0814255339

Short stories

Adaptations

Thurber teamed with college schoolmate (and actor/director) Elliott Nugent to write The Male Animal, a comic drama that became a major Broadway hit in 1939. The play was adapted as a film by the same name in 1942, starring Henry Fonda, Olivia de Havilland and Jack Carson.
In 1947 his short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", was loosely adapted as a film by the same name. Danny Kaye played the title character.
In 1951 United Productions of America announced an animated feature to be based on Thurber's work, titled Men, Women and Dogs.^[6] The only part of the ambitious project that was eventually released was the UPA cartoon The Unicorn in the Garden (1953).^[7]
In 1958, Thurber's short story "One Is a Wanderer" was adapted for General Electric Theatre,^[8] resulting in Emmy nominations for writer Samuel Taylor and director Herschel Daugherty.^[9]
The 1959 film The Battle of the Sexes was based on Thurber's 1942 short story "The Catbird Seat".
In 1960, Thurber fulfilled a long-standing desire to be on the professional stage and played himself in 88 performances of the revue A Thurber Carnival (which echoes the title of his 1945 book, The Thurber Carnival). It was based on a selection of Thurber's stories and cartoon captions. Thurber appeared in the sketch "File and Forget". The sketch consists of Thurber dictating a series of letters in a vain attempt to keep one of his publishers from sending him books he did not order, and the escalating confusion of the replies.^[10] Thurber received a Special Tony Award for the adapted script of the Carnival.^[11]
In 1961, "The Secret Life of James Thurber" aired on The DuPont Show with June Allyson. Adolphe Menjou appeared in the program as Fitch, and Orson Bean and Sue Randall portrayed John and Ellen Monroe.
In 1969–70, a full series based on Thurber's writings and life, titled My World ... and Welcome to It, was broadcast on NBC. It starred William Windom as the Thurber figure, John Monroe. Featuring animated portions in addition to live actors, the show won a 1970 Emmy Award as the year's best comedy series. Windom won an Emmy as well. He went on to perform Thurber material in a one-man stage show.
In 1972 another film adaptation, The War Between Men and Women, starring Jack Lemmon, concludes with an animated version of Thurber's classic anti-war work "The Last Flower".
In 2013, a new adaptation of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty was produced, starring Ben Stiller as the title character.

List of works by James Thurber

Children's books

Plays

Posthumous books

Short stories

Adaptations

Adaptations

References

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