Humorous Stories offers us over seventy entertaining stories, including some by past masters such as Leacock, Wodehouse and
Mark Twain. Reading funny stories is one of the more worthwhile pursuits in life, especially if the repertoire is as diverse as the one found in this
collection. Amusing stories to make one laugh aloud, ludicrous tales to bring out the suppressed chuckle and witty accounts to make one smile. There is a story for every occasion as it were, there is a story for every mood or disposition.
Moreover, in an anthology of this nature one gets to see the most attractive profile of the writer, without blemishes or warts. These are talented writers showcased at the height of their talents. This is not a book to be read at one sitting, this is a book to be treasured, this is a book to be enjoyed at leisure one story at a time. There is a serious side to this collection as well. If one is unable to spare the time to read a full manuscript by one of the master storytellers such as Woody Allen or Evelyn Waugh, this collection will serve as a compelling introduction to their work. And, once bitten by the bug, who knows?
People wonder why sometimes the humour works and sometimes it does not. True, one must be in a receptive frame of mind, but that alone does not suffice. Just writing funny lines does not suffice either. The humour in these stories derives from the manner of telling, as much as it does from the
situation or the events happening. It is not possible to dissect a story into its constituent parts and say that the plot, the situation, the characters or the dialogue are funny. The whole must gel, the parts must cohere without any of the seams showing. The situations must be plausible, without falling into the absurd. Above all, the comedy must be fresh and invigorating. Comedy would become stale if it had nothing new to offer to us, and this collection has plenty of novelty left in it.
Some of my favourite titles in this collection include The Macbeth Murder Mystery (Thurber), The Grey Parrot (Jacobs), The Mystery of the Hybernia (Anon), and A Chain of Circumstances (Darlington). If anything, these stories help to prove that surprising plots and twists in the end are not the province of mystery writers alone... To conclude, the humor is both laid-back and unforced. There is no slapstick - as uncalled for levity would have cheapened the humor in these and other tales.