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The Browning of Buchwald
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 July 2009
Extract
Twenty-five years ago an adventurous young expatriate, Art Buchwald, began writing a humor-gossip column for the European edition of the New York Herald Tribune. Today the Washington based columnist is a successful, sometimes brilliant, social and political satirist. Indeed, the thrice weekly column is an important indicator that American humor has emerged from the doldrums of the post-World War II period and has reached a new and respectable, if sometimes bitter and unpleasant, maturity.
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- An American Tragedy: A 50th Anniversary
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- Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1976
References
NOTES
1. Though a discussion of the critical arguments concerning the “decline of American humor” thesis is not immediately pertinent here, it is indirectly most important. According to many critics, the “golden age” of American humor—the 1920s and 1930s–ended with the late stages of the Depression and with World War II, to be replaced with a banal, silly humor during the forties and fifties. Contemporary American humor has more literary merit, the argument goes, but it is marred by a bitter, despairing tone. Other students of American humor, including this writer, have argued that contemporary American humor is in the midst of a “renaissance” in which the satiric, exposing nature of the humor (in many different media) is admirable, valuable, and legitimately expressive of the mood of our particular times. From this point of view, “the browning of Buchwald” is perhaps to be applauded, while from the former vantage point it might be seen to be evidence of the absence of worthwhile American humor.
2. “Gift of Laughter in a Mad, Mad, Mad World,” Book World, 05 26, 1968, p. 1.Google Scholar
3. “Funnyman in Paris,” Look, 03 13, 1962, p. 102Google Scholar. Among the many biographical, semi-critical accounts of Art Buchwald are Joly, John's “The Best of Buchwald—At Lunch Already,” Detroit Free Press, (05 18, 1969), pp. 38–42Google Scholar; Lowery, Burling's “What the Hell is Funny Today?” The Washingtonian, 02, 1973, pp. 68–71Google Scholar; Mechan, Thomas, “Cruise Director on the Titanic,” New York Times Magazine, 01 2, 1972, pp. 10–11, 21–15.Google Scholar
4. Buchwald's column is syndicated and it appears in more than five hundred papers, usually three times a week. Approximately every eighteen months he publishes a book of selected columns. To avoid numerous footnotes, references to columns are indicated either by a date in parentheses, for columns appearing in the Washington Post, or by the following code, also rendered parenthetically in the text along with page numbers, to refer to columns in the various collections:
“President”-And Then I Told the President (1965; rpt. New York: Fawcett, 1966)Google Scholar.
“Paris”—Art Buchwald's Paris (New York: Lion Books, 1956)Google Scholar.
“Write”—Don't Forget to Write (Cleveland: World, 1960)Google Scholar.
“Establishment”-The Establishment is Alive and Well in Washington (1969; rpt. New York: Fawcett, 1970)Google Scholar.
“Getting High”—Getting High in Government Circles (1968; rpt. New York: Fawcett, 1971)Google Scholar.
“Lied”-Have I Ever Lied to You? (1968; rpt. New York: Fawcett, 1973)Google Scholar.
“Dollars”-How Much is That in Dollars? (1961: rpt. New York: Fawcett, 1962)Google Scholar.
“Crook”—I Am Not a Crook (New York: Putnam, 1974)Google Scholar.
“Capitol”—I Chose Capitol Punishment (New York: Fawcett, 1962)Google Scholar.
“Danced”—I Never Danced at the White House (1973; rep. New York: Fawcett, 1974)Google Scholar.
“Safe”—Is It Safe to Drink The Water? (Cleveland: World, 1962)Google Scholar.
“Caviar,”—More Caviar (New York: Lion Books, 1957)Google Scholar.
“Society”—Son of the Great Society (New York: Putnam, 1966).Google Scholar
5. “Funnyman in Paris,” p. 102.Google Scholar
6. Quoted by Joly, John, “The Best of Buchwald—At Lunch Already,” Detroit Free Press, 05 18, 1968, p. 42.Google Scholar