G.M. Malliet

malliet_gmIn a recent interview I joked that growing up, I was a poster child for bookworms. Raised as the only child of somewhat older parents, I was moved from one military base to another, generally against my will. Books were my escape, particularly when these moves occurred mid-semester, as happened in my already angst-ridden junior year of high school. Fortunately my mother, a great reader, never insisted books were too heavy to pack and ship about the globe. Toys we left behind, but never books.

Asked to write for this article about an author who had a big impact on my reading life, the name that first came to mind was not Agatha Christie, later unquestionably my biggest inspiration, but humorist James Thurber. His collections of cartoons and essays, many of which first appeared in The New Yorker, were one constant in my ever-changing world.

Thurber’s is a subversive style of writing I associate with the British, so gifted at making us laugh by taking an ordinary scene and piling occurrence upon happenstance, leading us toward a somehow inevitable and happy, if goofy, outcome. As Thurber said, “Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility.” First posit a ridiculous, Python-esque setup, then coax the reader until he accepts the implausible as real. Add fantastic, startling touches, until your Walter Mitty is thoroughly entrenched in a mad world spinning out of his control.

thurber_thurberoncrimeFor writers, the goal is to get the reader pulling for a beleaguered protagonist to restore order from the chaos they’ve created. If this can be done with a soupcon of wit and wisdom, so much the better.

Thurber showed me what was possible with the ever-versatile English language. With his humor, he made me forget how hard it was to be the new kid at school.

Thurber said he wrote humor because he had “the hope it may do some good.” For this bookworm, transported by Thurber’s genius, it did.

Author Website: gmmalliet.com

This "Writers on Reading" essay was originally published in "At the Scene" eNews October 2012 as a first-look exclusive to our enewsletter subscribers. For more special content available first to our enewsletter subscribers, sign up here.

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