S. J. Perelman Summary

S. J. Perelman (1904-1979) was probably the funniest American writer of the 20th century. He was a master of word-play and a cultural parodist without equal.S. J. Perelman was once described in these ... Read more

Sidney Joseph Perelman was born in Brooklyn, New York, to immigrant Joseph and Sophia Perelman. When Perelman was still a child his family moved to Providence, Rhode Island, where his father worked as... Read more

In the following review, the critic notes Perelman's wit, and places him among the top of American humorists. Few people would question Robert Benchley's position as the funniest man wri... Read more

In the following review of The Road to Miltown, Parker proclaims "Mr. Perelman stands alone in this day of humorists." It is a strange force that compels a writer to be a humorist. It is... Read more

In the following reviews of The Most of S. J. Perelman and Baby, It's Cold Inside, originally published in 1958 and 1970 respectively, Welty admires Perelman's wit and cast of humorous c... Read more

In the following review, the critic observes that Perelman's jokes, while "imaginative and versatile, " on occasion fail, becoming little more than mechanical gags. Most of the sk... Read more

In the following essay, Yates characterizes Perelman's fictional narrators—types of the literary Little Man—as "sane psychotics." As if American fiction thrived on i... Read more

In the following review of Baby, It's Cold Inside, Freedman finds Perelman's humor, though funny, largely reminiscent of a bygone era. With Benchley and Thurber long among the archangels... Read more

In the following review, Nordell comments on the "verbal vaudeville" of Perelman's writing. Publishing this book in 1970 is casting Perelman before swine, to use one of his favori... Read more

In the following review of Vinegar Puss, Theroux calls Perelman "a shaping force of comedy " and offers the book high praise. It is amazing, not to say criminal, that these greedy island... Read more

In the following review of Eastward Ha!, Wood recounts Perelman's skill at pun and wordplay and offers many examples of his wit. "If one laughs at a joke really heartily," Freud r... Read more

In the following review of The Last Laugh, Brickman observes of Perelman, "his genius defies criticism." The first time I met S. J. Perelman, the conversation turned to contemporary writ... Read more

In the following review of The Last Laugh, originally published in 1981, Sheed examines the ingredients of Perelman's humor, but remarks that this volume lach some of the vigor of Perelman�... Read more

In the following review, the unsigned critic recounts Perelman's life and brand of humor. S. J. Perelman picks up business where he left off with Look Who's Talking. One passage should s... Read more

In the following review, Welty positively assesses the satire, parody, and wordplay of Perelman's Crazy Like a Fox. This looks like the unholy work of only one man. Reader, S. J. Perelman has s... Read more

In the following review, Maloney studies Perelman's Keep It Crisp, calling the book "superb." It is the traditional fate of great humorists to be admired and praised by vast hosts... Read more

In the following laudatory review, the unsigned critic examines Perelman's humorous narratives. In Parlor, Bedlam and Bath the Messrs. Perelman and [Q. J.] Reynolds have collaborated in an amus... Read more

Critical Essay by Benny Green I doubt if there is a reader anywhere prepared to read 650 consecutive pages of Perelman at a sitting [as found in The Most of S. J. Perelman and Eastward Ha!]; Perelman&... Read more

Critical Essay by Russell Davies In his own country, Perelman was latterly in danger of being cast as little more than a talented eye-witness, wittily recalling the supposed greats of Broadway, Hollyw... Read more

Critical Essay by Caskie Stinnett There is a certain uniformity in the Perelman pieces—in the craftsmanship, in the construction. They invariably start off with a highly challenging introductio... Read more

Critical Essay by The Saturday Review of Literature Last year, entirely on his own, Perelman perpetrated "Dawn Ginsbergh's Revenge," a fine, mad book…. And now he has produ... Read more

Critical Essay by Richard Freedman Perelman has every right to be a bit bushed by now, forty-one years and eighteen books after his debut, Dawn Ginsbergh's Revenge, which crashed into public no... Read more

Critical Essay by Henry Mitchell Perelman was never restrained but always reticent. You might think his posthumous book, The Last Laugh, would break new ground, especially since it includes a few sket... Read more

Critical Essay by Wilfrid Sheed People who came to Perelman late commonly had difficulty understanding the zeal of earlier converts and, by chance, I could see why; I myself read his books in the wron... Read more

Critical Essay by Eudora Welty Reader, S. J. Perelman has struck again. "Great, fatuous booby that I was"—these are the words of Perelman himself—"I imagined adverti... Read more

Critical Essay by Dorothy Parker Humor to me, Heaven help me, takes in many things. There must be courage; there must be no awe. There must be criticism, for humor, to my mind, is encapsulated in crit... Read more

Critical Essay by Burling Lowrey S. J. Perelman is the most durable and, over the long haul, possibly the most brilliant of that familiar group of humorists whose wit fructified in the Twenties and Th... Read more

Critical Essay by Melvin Maddocks S. J. Perelman is one of those humorists—he prefers to think of himself as a writer of "the sportive essay"—who hits the reader on the aft... Read more