Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

12-1993

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Communication

Major Professor

Paul Ashdown

Committee Members

Dwight Teeter, Mark Littmann, Ed Caudill, Allison Ensor

Abstract

This study focuses on the newspaper apprenticeship of James Thurber, tracing the development of various literary and humor devices in the 42 installments of his "Credos and Curios" column that appeared in the Columbus Dispatch in 1923. Thurber himself acknowledged the value of his newspaper apprenticeship, and this study looks at the evidence that the foundations of his literary career were laid in that apprenticeship work. In particular, the early writings show experimentation with various literary and humor devices that his later works either discard or develop. In addition to examining the themes and stylistic devices Thurber used in the column, this study pays particular attention to evidence that the column helped the young writer identify and define his literary values and match those values to appropriate literary techniques. The study finds Thurber developing his writer's voice, and it also identifies romanticism as the underlying philosophy of his later work.

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