James Thurber: My Life at a GlanceExclusive: this is the final work of James Thurber and has been kept hidden by his wife until now.
I am James Thurber and dying of pneumonia is not the way I would have chosen to die. I was born in Columbus, Ohio, 65 years ago. When I was a child I was shot in the eye with an arrow while playing a game with my brothers. Sadly, I went blind in that eye and my vision began to deteriorate in my other eye. I was not able to graduate from Ohio State University because my awful eyesight prevented me from completed the required ROTC course. After I left Ohio State, I began working at The New Yorker a while later. There I met a fellow staff member, E.B. White who wrote the novel Charlotte's Web. He always supported my work and always encouraged me to draw my cartoons. Funnily enough, due to my terrible eyesight, I had to draw these with black crayon on a giant piece of paper. I have been told I am a very witty and funny person. This is probably while all my writing contains wit and humor. What I believe to be my wittiest story would be "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty". In this absurd story, Walter daydreams about who he wishes he was and by the end Walter imagines he is in front of a firing squad, smoking. Now who in their right mind would smoke in front of a firing squad, smoking. That is what the most ingenious part of the story is, the absurdity.
Before I go I would like to part with your my favorite quotes from myself. First, "All men should strive to learn before they die, what they are running form, and to, and why." This seems to fit well since I am dying. Lastly, "Early to rise and early to bed makes a man healthy, wealthy, and dead." If I may say so myself, this is a very clever spin on Benjamin Franklins' famous quote, "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."
My last wish it for my work to be forever preserved in my house for all the world to see. Maybe at my house people will learn more about me and some of my more entertaining quotes.
I enjoyed the quotes by James Thurber on the other website. You can tell he is a very intelligent, learned man through his pieces and quotes. Also, by reading some of his short stories and essays, you can tell he is extremely witty and clever. It shows his good sense of humor.
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