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Loading... IS SEX NECESSARY (original 1929; edition 1950)by JAMES THURBER and E.B. WHITE
Work InformationIs Sex Necessary?: Or Why You Feel the Way You Do by James Thurber (1929)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. It is interesting that E.B. White's other book, that is more directly fiction, was "Charlotte's Web." Nonetheless, an exploration of North American sexual attitudes in the late 1920's was a product of collaboration between a grammarian and a humourist...but isn't that a lot like life. It remains an interesting social document. As a final word on sex, this book fails. I’m glad I didn’t read this when I was young – it might have put me on the wrong track for years. As it was, I had to compile my perception of sex from tattered fantasy novels and lurid novellas accidentally classified in the young adult section of my local library. The discovery, when I was twelve, of a suitcase stuffed with the most hardcore pornography imaginable - buried, like some hideous treasure, in the damp leaves of the woods - well, that did not help either. Thurber’s drawings scattered throughout this book are slightly interesting. A surprisingly astute observation comes tucked away in the appendix: White explains the sketches represent the ‘the melancholy of sex’ and ‘the implausibility of animals’. White explains most of the men in the drawings look frightened, but I disagree: I think they mostly look angry. This book is supposed to be light reading, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Thurber was secretly (or not so secretly) a misogynist, and a bitter one at that. no reviews | add a review
Notable Lists
The first book of prose published by either James Thurber or E. B. White, Is Sex Necessary? combines the humor and genius of both authors to examine those great mysteries of life -- romance, love, and marriage. A masterpiece of drollery, this 75th Anniversary Edition stands the test of time with its sidesplitting spoof of men, women, and psychologists; more than fifty funny illustrations by Thurber; and a new foreword by John Updike. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)818.5207Literature English (North America) Authors, American and American miscellany 20th Century 1900-1945LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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It's so relevant, I bought a copy to keep. ( )