James Thurber may be very well-known to American readers for both his short stories and cartoons, his impact as a world-class author is rather limited. It is therefore very commendable that the Shanghai: Yiwen Press (2012) 上海:译文出版社 (2012) has brought out an omnibus edition which reprints two complete short story collections, and a complete “graphic novel” together with some selected short stories from Fables for Our Time. In this way, Chinese readers can become acquainted with the work of this American author.

In the omnibus edition the original English works by Thurber, collected under the title The selected writings and drawings of James Thurber are preceded by the Chinese translations of these works. The cartoons which originally appeared in My life and hard times and The Thurber carnival are reprinted alongside the Chinese translations. Readers of the English texts have to flip through the Chinese translations to view these images. The “graphic novel” The last flower. A parable in pictures is printed bilingually, with both English and Chinese text versions below the cartoons (texts are mainly very short, if any at all).

One might surmise that for writing Running with scissors Augusten Burroughs found inspiration in James Thurber's My life and hard times, thinking particularly of the last short story in this collection, namely "A box to hide in" which call to mind Burrough's (autobiographical) character with a carton box -- a box too small to hide in -- on is head.

There are other parallels between the two books, for instance, the suggestion that both are autobiographical, and both use the technique of the hyperbole to create hilarious situations. But where Thurber's stories are exceedingly funny, Burroughs are essentially sad; where Thurber's stories are incredibly funny and very recognizable, Burroughs are weird and disgusting.

James Thurber's short story collection My life and hard times consists of six, mostly very short stories, illustrated with Thurber's cartoons. The first story "The dog that bit people" describes in hilarious fashion the life of one of his family's dogs. The story is great for dog lovers. The second story, "University days" describes the protagonists' time at university. In three episodes it portrays more than anything else the despair of teachers to educate some truly resilient students, such as the immensely funny botany class and the protagonist's inability to see through the microscope, the portrait of the block-head student Bolenciecwcz, who excels at sports but is extremely dim. The attempt of the teacher to make Bolenciecwcz answer simple question is recognizable to any student, and painfully realistic to any teacher, and above all uproariously funny. These two longer stories are followed by three relatively short stories, which all describe hilariously funny situations, set in the family circle of the protagonist.

My life and hard times is a very short, and very light read, but very rewarding, and truly very funny. Part of the fun lies in the very recognizable situations, and part of it rests with the (imagined) mimick of the characters, and their highly authentic speech, in which Thurber has caught some typical American expressions. Although descriptions clearly betray that these stories were written in the early Twentieth century, and the stories are set in the 1910s, their humour is timeless.

The Thurber carnival is another short story collection of timeless pieces by James Thurber. It is a parade of deviance. In each story one of the characters is either eccentric, weird or totally nuts. However, in each case there is sufficient suspense to let the reader gradually discover where the screw is loose.

In "The secret life of Walter Mitty" a war veteran "has not come home" so to speak. He sees the enemy hidden behind every tree, while out shopping with his wife. It is a classic story, with an almost endearing touch. "The catbird seat" tells the story of envy and backstabbing in the office, and how to get rid of troublesome colleagues. A very humourous, and cruel story. "In "The MacBeth murder mystery" a reader get Shakespeare all wrong, or all right, depending on your perspective.

Most stories are rather short, the volume as a whole being just over 60 pages. The stories are highly original, and hardly dated, so they can be enjoyed by contemporary readers. Great stuff.

James Thurber was foremost known as an author of (very) short witty stories, and cartoons. The last flower. A parable in pictures is booklet of serial cartoons which tell the human condition, and the near extinction and fate of the human race. Thurber shows that very few words are needed to express the ultimate truth about one of mankind's biggest problems.

The book is a flimsy, 5-minute read. However, quite memorable if not unforgettable.

The Chinese omnibus edition is good quality paper, with an original and good quality cover design. It is an example of the increase in quality of publishing by Chinese publishers. The edition comes with a short preface (in Chinese only) and a table of contents. For Chinese readers a small number of words are explained in Chinese at the foot of pages below the English text. ( )