Criticism > Contemporary Literary Criticism > Addams, Charles (Samuel) - John Gruen

1. Printable Version
2. Download PDF
3. Cite this Page
4. Tweet This

JOHN GRUEN

[The following essay first appeared in 1967.]

[Charles Addams is] still tops when it comes to projecting the nervous side of life. Thirty years on The New Yorker has not diminished his sting—nor, for that matter, his style, which is as unmistakable as a gabled and turreted Victorian house, an architectural vintage he seems, in effect, to have invented.

But for all his dipping into the well of black humor, Addams, the man, emerges an aristocrat. He's a gentleman of enormous charm—and talking with him is, unfortunately, not even a little bit painful. He comes on smooth and easy—and funny. (p. 161)

[Ask] him about black humor, and the answers get a little vague. Like, "It's been going on for centuries." Or, "People are generally discouraged about the state of the world." Prod him a little about his own work and he'll say, "It's really all based on real life. What didn't seem quite so macabre years ago, has suddenly...

Join eNotes

The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:

eNotes Pass

1. Introduction
2. Boris Karloff
3. Time
4. Iris Barry
5. Wolcott Gibbs
6. William Germain Dooley
7. The Times Literary Supplement
8. Lisle Bell
9. Charles Poore
10. John Mason Brown
11. Lisle Bell
12. DWIGHT MacDONALD
13. Best Sellers
14. Russell Lynes
15. John Gruen
16. George A. Woods
17. Della Thomas
18. Zena Sutherland
19. Regina Minudri
20. John B. Breslin
21. A. J. Anderson
22. Copyright