S.J. Perelman

Filling a void with his critical study of an important American humorist, Steven H. Gale has provided a comprehensive description of S.J. Perelman's prose, plays, and screenplays, along with a biographical portrait which emphasizes his connections to other writers of his time. The work is supplemented by a chronology of events, a bibliographic essay, and a general subject index.

?Gale's critical study of Perelman ... is a delightful intellectual excursion through the literary life of a remarkable logo-humorist. Intimately familiar with the biographical and bibliographic details of Perelman's artistic life (he died in 1979), Gale examines his literary output under three headings: prose writing, filmscripts, plays. Gale also provides a useful chronology, extensive editorial notes, a list of Perelman's awards, a fine bibliographic essay, and an index.... Among the most useful features of Gale's book is his treatment of Perelman's literary devices: deadpan exaggeration, ' stream-of-consciousness, non sequiturs, cliches and comparisons, logic manipulation, puns and outlandish names, and literalism and understatement. And among the most amusing sections of the book are those concerning Perelman's relations with the zany Marx Brothers, for whom he wrote movie scripts and because of whom his life's trials were somewhat magnified. Appropriate for college, university, and community college libraries.?-Choice, "Gale's critical study of Perelman ... is a delightful intellectual excursion through the literary life of a remarkable logo-humorist. Intimately familiar with the biographical and bibliographic details of Perelman's artistic life (he died in 1979), Gale examines his literary output under three headings: prose writing, filmscripts, plays. Gale also provides a useful chronology, extensive editorial notes, a list of Perelman's awards, a fine bibliographic essay, and an index.... Among the most useful features of Gale's book is his treatment of Perelman's literary devices: deadpan exaggeration, ' stream-of-consciousness, non sequiturs, cliches and comparisons, logic manipulation, puns and outlandish names, and literalism and understatement. And among the most amusing sections of the book are those concerning Perelman's relations with the zany Marx Brothers, for whom he wrote movie scripts and because of whom his life's trials were somewhat magnified. Appropriate for college, university, and community college libraries."-Choice

STEVEN H. GALE is Endowed Professor of Humanities at Kentucky State University.