Without a stitch in time : a selection of the best humorous short pieces / by Peter De Vries.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

De Vries, Peter, 1910-1993, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Wit and humor.

Short stories, American.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (337 p.)

Edition:

Paperback edition.

Place of Publication:

Chicago ; London : University of Chicago Press, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Harking from the golden age of fiction set in American suburbia—the school of John Updike and Cheever—this work from the great American humorist Peter De Vries looks with laughter upon its lawns, its cocktails, and its slightly unreal feeling of comfort. Without a Stitch in Time, a selection of forty-six articles and stories written for the New Yorker between 1943 and 1973, offers pun-filled autobiographical vignettes that reveal the source of De Vries’s nervous wit: the cognitive dissonance between his Calvinist upbringing in 1920s Chicago and the all-too-perfect postwar world. Noted as much for his verbal fluidity and wordplay as for his ability to see humor through pain, De Vries will delight both new readers and old in this uproarious modern masterpiece.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

A HARD DAY AT THE OFFICE

SLICE OF LIFE

FLESH AND THE DEVIL

MUD IN YOUR EYE

AFTERNOON OF A FAUN

INTERIOR WITH FIGURES

GOOD BOY

TULIP

EVERY LEAVE THAT FALLS

COMPULSION

SCENE

A CRYING NEED

IN DEFENSE OF SELF-PITY; OR, PRELUDE TO LOWENBRAU

THE HIGH GROUND; OR, LOOK, MA, I'M EXPLICATING

THE INDEPENDENT VOTER AT TWILIGHT

THE CONVERSATIONAL BALL

ADVENTURES OF A PEOPLE BUFF

HEART

REQUIEM FOR A NOUN; OR, INTRUDER IN THE DUSK

THE HOUSE OF MIRTH

SPLIT-LEVEL

TILL THE SANDS OF THE DESERT GROW COLD

FROM THERE TO INFINITY

OVERTURE

REUBEN, REUBEN

TOUCH AND GO

FALL GUY

YOU AND WHO ELSE?

NOBODY'S FOOL

BLOCK

DOUBLE OR NOTHING

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE ROOM

DIFFERENT CULTURAL LEVELS EAT HERE

THE ART OF SELF-DRAMATIZATION; OR, FORWARD FROM SCHRECKLICHKEIT

THE CHILDREN'S HOUR; OR, HOPSCOTCH AND SODA

THE IRONY OF IT ALL

LAUGHTER IN THE BASEMENT

PART OF THE FAMILY PICTURE

YOU KNOW ME ALICE

A WALK IN THE COUNTRY; OR, HOW TO KEEP FIT TO BE TIED

THE LAST OF THE BLUENOSES

SCONES AND STONES

FOREVER PANTING

JAMES THURBER: THE COMIC PRUFROCK

EXPLORING INNER SPACE

Notes:

"Originally published 1972 by Little, Brown and Company"--Title page verso.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-226-17123-X

OCLC:

894227303