Criticism > Short Story Criticism > Perelman, S(idney) J(oseph) - Barry Fantoni (review date 1978)

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

Barry Fantoni (review date 1978)

SOURCE: "Perelman Power," in The Listener, Vol. 100, July 20, 1978, p. 94.

[In the following review of The Most of S. J. Perelman and Eastward Ha!, Fantoni writes approvingly of Perelman's humorous use of language.]

Would anyone mind if I take the weight off my dogs for a minute or two, flop down on the chaise-longue and give a brief account of how I first clapped eyes on the printed word of Sid Perelman? It happened this wise. While I was still no taller than a mongoose with backache I enrolled for a course in painting at a South London établissement set up for that kind of thing and went about in a beret, my fragile chin covered by a beard with less hair than a moth-eaten coconut, and only answered to the name Paul Gauguin.

Part of the course was given over to the study of technical drawing. The idea behind this addition to the curriculum was not so much to teach any budding...

Join eNotes

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

eNotes Pass

1. Introduction
2. Principal Works
3. Criticism
   1. The Saturday Review of Literature (review date 1937)
   2. Beatrice Sherman (review date 1943)
   3. Time (review date 1943)
   4. Eudora Welty (review date 1944)
   5. Thomas Sugrue (review date 1944)
   6. Russell Maloney (review date 1946)
   7. Harry Gilroy (review date 1949)
   8. The New York Times Book Review (review date 1950)
   9. Ted Robinson, Jr. (review date 1952)
   10. Herbert Kupferberg (review date 1955)
   11. Dorothy Parker (review date 1957)
   12. Walker Gibson (review date 1958)
   13. Eudora Welty (review dates 1958 and 1970)
   14. Michael Flanders (review date 1962)
   15. The Times Literary Supplement (review date 1962)
   16. S. J. Perelman with William Cole and George Plimpton (interview date 1963)
   17. Norris W. Yates (essay date 1964)
   18. The Times Literary Supplement (review date 1967)
   19. Richard Freedman (review date 1970)
   20. Roderick Nordell (review date 1970)
   21. Stefan Kanfer (review date 1970)
   22. Paul Theroux (review date 1976)
   23. Paul Theroux (review date 1977)
   24. Michael Wood (review date 1978)
   25. Barry Fantoni (review date 1978)
   26. Marshall Brickman (review date 1981)
   27. Terry Teachout (review date 1981)
   28. Wilfrid Sheed (review date 1981)
   29. Prudence Crowther (review date 1984)
   30. Steven H. Gale (essay date 1987)
4. Further Reading
5. Copyright