James Thurber (1894-1961) was famous for his witty short stories and for his

unusual and easily recognizable cartoons (Thurber had lost an eye as a

child and suffered from failing eyesight his entire life, until he was

declared legally blind at age 50. With such weak eyesight, he had to

draw his cartoons on huge pieces of paper –two or three feet wide – that

were later reduced when printed in newspapers or magazines). He was

a long-time contributor to The New Yorker literary magazine, and like

many fellow contributors (J.D. Salinger, Roald Dahl, John Cheever,

etc.), he managed to both thought-provoking and witty—if not

downright hilarious. One of his most famous stories is reproduced below. Like many of his

tales, it gives us a hen-pecked husband and his overbearing shrew of a wife. The story was so

successful that the name Walter Mitty has become a common reference, and in psychiatric

circles the term ‘Walter Mittyism’ has been coined to refer to a person’s need to slip into

delusional daydreams of self-importance.

Thurber wrote a great many subjects. His books include a spoof (i.e., a parody) on self-help

manuals, called Is Sex Necessary? (1929, with E.B. White); the fanciful "autobiography" My Life

and Hard Times (1933), the memoir of his years with The New Yorker entitled The Years With

Ross (1959), and the short story collections The Middle-Aged Man on the Flying Trapeze (1935).and The Thurber Carnival (1933). He also wrote the 1950 children's book entitled The Thirteen Clocks.