Criticism > Contemporary Literary Criticism > Thurber, James (Grover) - Kenneth Burke

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

KENNETH BURKE

That skillful literary man, St. Augustine, has warned that one should never smite an opponent in bad grammar. Applying a loose interpretation, we could translate his wise teaching thus: If a man would carry a discussion through points A, B, C and D, don't let him think he has got anywhere, in the way of cogency, simply by lining up a good argument. For should he have a lisp, or should someone in his audience periodically sneeze in a notable way, or should there be an irrelevant voice echoing from the corridors, our hero is all Achilles' heel. Especially when there is a Thurber about.

In fact, if he should make a statement that requires as many as three sentences, and there is a Thurber about, he is as vulnerable. For Thurber may choose to hear only the first sentence, proceeding joyously and outrageously to build upon it. We generally think of funny men as irrational. But they are as rational as the constructor of a Mother Goose rhyme (who gets...

Join eNotes

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

eNotes Pass

1. Introduction
2. Kenneth Burke
3. Wilfrid Sheed
4. Brian Attebery
5. Jonathan Yardley
6. William Zinsser
7. Nora Sayre
8. Clancy Sigal
9. Alan Coren
10. Copyright

1. James Thurber