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Of All Things

Robert C. Benchley

159 ratings
Of All Things | Robert C. Benchley

Of All Things

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A collection of amusing essays satirizing serious consideration of topics including natural history, social etiquette, or indeed, civilized behavior (especially of the upper classes).

DEAR PATER:—To-day has been unbelievably exquisite! Great, undulating clouds, rolling in serried formation across a sky of pure lapis lazuli. I feel like what Updike calls a "myrmidon of unhesitating amplitude." And a perfect gem of a letter from Toto completed the felicitous experience. You would hardly believe, and yet you must, in your cœur des cœurs, know, that the brown, esoteric hills of this Oriental retreat affect me like the red wine of Russilon, and, indigent as I am in these matters, I cannot but feel that you have, as Herbert says:

"Carve or discourse; do not a famine fear.
Who carves is kind to two, who talks to all."

Yesterday I saw a little native boy, a veritable boy of the streets, playing at a game at once so naïve and so resplendent that I was irresistibly drawn to its contemplation. You will doubtless jeer when I tell you. He was tossing a small blatch, such as grow in great profusion here, to and fro between himself and the wall of the limple. I was stunned for the moment, and then I realized that I was looking into the very soul of the peasantry, the open stigma of the nation. How queer it all seemed! Did it not?

You doubtless think me an ungrateful fellow for not mentioning the delicious assortment of goodies which came, like melons to Artemis, to this benighted gesellschaft on Thursday last. They were devoured to the last crumb, and I was reminded as we ate, like so many wurras, of those lines of that gorgeous Herbert, of whom I am so fond:

"Must all be veiled, while he that reads divines,
Catching the sense at two removes?"

The breeze is springing up, and it brings to me messages of the o

Amanda 05/04/2020
I've enjoyed Robert Benchley's humor, since I first got interested, in the members of The Algonquin Round Table. His shorts from the 30's are very amusing and are a lot of fun to watch. I ran across this book, at my local bookstore. I have read many stories, from the other members, but never Benchle
Joseph 02/01/2020
Time is not kind...

Most of the material in this book has none of its humorous edge, too much is period refers to things long past to the point of forgotten. Unless you are reading it purely from historical curiosity its probably not worth the effort.
Lucy 08/09/2019
Too lightweight for 5 stars, but some very amusing stuff in this collection. It makes a good bedside book for dipping into.
Steve 01/17/2015
Not only was Benchley a humorist of note, he was a humorist of the entire scale and then some.
Cynthia 03/06/2014
It was worth reading this book just to be reminded of how far we have come in the past 90 years. And the author's dry sense of humor was delightful. My favorite chapter was "The Scientific Scenario". He has nice skills with satire.

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