Describe Books To Archy and Mehitabel
| Original Title: | Archy and Mehitabel |
| ISBN: | 0385094787 (ISBN13: 9780385094788) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Setting: | United States of America |
Don Marquis
Paperback | Pages: 192 pages Rating: 4.27 | 1414 Users | 155 Reviews
Explanation As Books Archy and Mehitabel
When newspapers were the dominant medium, were fun, and didn't take themselves so goddam seriously, there were great columnists. Don Marquis was one. archy was his alter ego, a cockroach with the soul of a poet who threw himself on the typewriter keys to express his thoughts. Hence no caps--you can't throw yourself on the caps key and a letter key at the same time. mehitabel was his unruly alley cat sidekick. Great fun, and occasionally wise ("The human race may be doing the best it can, boss, but that's an explanation, not an excuse.") There's also a musical version with David Wayne and Carol Channing. Very good, too.
Details Appertaining To Books Archy and Mehitabel
| Title | : | Archy and Mehitabel |
| Author | : | Don Marquis |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 192 pages |
| Published | : | September 29th 1987 by Anchor (first published 1927) |
| Categories | : | Poetry. Fiction. Humor. Classics. Comedy |
Rating Appertaining To Books Archy and Mehitabel
Ratings: 4.27 From 1414 Users | 155 ReviewsRate Appertaining To Books Archy and Mehitabel
Archy and Mehitabel door motif from the Brooklyn Public Library:Had I read the back of this book, I would have never read the book itself. A cockroach that writes poems on a typewriter and his cat friend---sounds insipid and revolting doesn't it? However this book is a marvelous oddity which strays far away from cutesiness. It's one of those works where the schtick doesn't take over the rest of the text. Granted, this was never MEANT to be a book in the first place--if I recall correctly this started out as something that showed up in newspapers.
A fun and unusual little anthology that offers insight into the days when newspapers were less utilitarian in construct. "Archy and Mehitabel" is the creation of Don Marquis, a columnist for the New York Tribune, who writes from the perspective of Archy, a free-verse poet reincarnated as a cockroach. At nights, Archy crawls onto a typewriter and slowly crafts his poetry by slamming his body onto the keys, one letter at a time. He laments his sullen existence, comments on the daily minutiae of
I think I read this in High School. It was clever and fun. I have met other English Majors by making obscure references to this book. Apparently ONLY people who go on to be English Majors remember this work.
I'm putting this is my "read" section, though I have not finished reading it, only because it no longer belongs in my "currently reading" section, as I am not reading it any longer. I do not like it enough to finish it. I was trying to persevere and see the humour and genius, but I only found it annoying and boring. I do not care to read the word "wotthehell" again, especially not in the context of free verse poetry that is often made to rhyme. I guess the philosophical musings of a flea are not
An Amazon reviewer said "Writers (particularly journalists) can go lifetimes without attaining such loose-limbed grace," and I think that's a really well-chosen description of his style: loose-limbed grace. Perfect tone for his characters, but fresh, slangy, casual and formal in the same breath, and with an unusual combination of humor and melancholy floating around and within other like an expertly balanced chili-passionfruit margarita.Archy is a cockroach who used to be a vers libre poet in a
Oh yes! so true, so bad. and amazingly poetic.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.