As I recall, the main reason that Perez and Martina was a book in the family "library" was because Pura Belpré was somehow associated with my family -- either a friend of relatives or very distantly by blood. The edition that I read was beautifully illustrated by Carlos Sánchez. The horrifying end of Perez deeply disturbed me.
The feeling was mutual.laffite wrote: ↑December 25th, 2022, 3:30 pm A brief review of S.J. Perelman's life suggests that he cared more for his automobile and pet bird than his only child who in his twenties committed robberies. But wait, the rearing of the child might have might have been positively influenced my the mother? Poor Laura West, sister of Nathaniel West, was besieged by a husband who chronically cheated, there goes the mother. S.J. considered children as a "nuisance." Thank Heaven he and wife didn't have another. I am taking a few facts of the life of ... and gleaning more elaborate ramifications. Even without that, Groucho thought little of him, calling him, "A son of a bit*ch." . . .
I discovered the humor of S.J. Perelman while I was in college. His phenomenal vocabulary and command of language astounded, entertained, seduced, delighted, and inspired me. Perelman inspired many humorists, among them Woody Allen. I'm currently reading Mere Anarchy, a 2007 collection of Allen's literary humor, and disappointed to find that Allen shamefully aped Perelman's style to a degree just shy of plagiarism.
Shhhh! Not so loud! The neighbors might hear! O, the shame! O, the disgrace! Is there ... is there balm in Gilead?
Now you're catching on!laffite wrote: ↑December 25th, 2022, 3:30 pm The book you are reading and the book you will never come back to are one and the same. Do you detect a contradiction? . . .
The teenager book and the later-than-life book bear a certain similarity. Am I finally come round to an element of humor in all this? And your comfort book too? Attempt at humor?