James Thurber, Humorist, Lee Jansen Writing Award Winner

Lee Jansen, Columbus, Ohio, writer wins the Thurber writing contest. Her reading of her winning humorous short story was done on 07.06.13

Each year to honor James Thurber, noted Columbus, Ohio, humorist and writer, the Thurber House selects the winner of a writing contest. The winner reads the winning story at the Thurber House, the home in Columbus, Ohio, where James Thurber was reared. This year the theme for a story was to imagine were the unicorn went when it escaped from its pedestal last year. The unicorn is a statue in the Thurber House garden to commemorate Thurber's story, The Unicorn in the Garden. Around the Columbus area, people steal statures. Sometimes after several days, they then return these statues. (Statues stolen include the Sky Woman, Frisch's Big Boy, and Jesus.)

The Unicorn in the Garden is a short story written by James Thurber, who grew up in Columbus, Ohio. It is one of the most famous of Thurber's humorous stories and first appeared in The New Yorker on October 31, 1939. The story has since been reprinted many times, for example in The Thurber Carnival, The Oxford Book of Modern Fairy Tales, and many other publications. It is also taught in literature courses. The story is on Youtube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppJfMP4MVoI

In the story, a husband sees a unicorn in the family garden and tells his wife about it. She ridicules him, saying that the unicorn is simply a mythical beast and then calls him a "booby". As he persists, she threatens to send him to the "booby hatch" (meaning the mental institution). Then she summons the authorities asking them to bring a straight jacket. When they arrive, they ask him if he told his wife he had seen a unicorn. He says, No, because The unicorn is a mythical beast. Thus, they take the wife away instead. Thurber's moral is "Don't count your boobies until they are hatched."

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[RomanFighter]

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[RomanFighter]

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[RomanFighter]

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[RomanFighter]

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