The New Yorker Book of Literary Cartoons

The New Yorker Book of Cartoons

by Robert Mankoff (editor)

Here is a cornucopia of 104 dead-on drawings and eye-opening ruminations on all things bookish, writerly, and readerly, courtesy of The New Yorker's renowned stable of cartoonists, including Charles Barsotti, Roz Chast, Ed Koren, J.B. Handelsman, Jack Ziegler, and Victoria Roberts. In the bestselling tradition of such classics as The New Yorker Book of Lawyer Cartoons and The New Yorker Book of Cat Cartoons, this collection of literary laughs is manna straight from bookworm heaven.

Genres: Humor, Comics, Books About Books, Cartoon, Nonfiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Art

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Robert Mankoff is an American cartoonist, editor, and author. He was the cartoon editor for The New Yorker for nearly twenty years. Before he succeeded Lee Lorenz as cartoon editor at The New Yorker, Mankoff was a New Yorker cartoonist for twenty years.

Reviews

[Kim Lockhart]

Obviously a little dated, but a good glimpse into life at the beginning of the 21st century. Some of the panels still work today.

[Jimmy]

It even has two James Thurber cartoons.

Here are some favorites of mine:

1. Woman says to her writer husband: "I've got an idea for a story: Gus and Ethel live on Long Island, on the North Shore. He works sixteen hours a day writing fiction. Ethel never goes out, never does anything except fix Gus sandwiches and in the end she becomes a nympho-lesbo-killer-whore. Here's your sandwich."

2. A man reading Joyce's Ulysses as a bedtime story for his young son who says: "Could you read the part where Stephen envisions life outside Dublin again?"

[Alina Cristea]

A witty and enjoyable collection of literary cartoons published in The New Yorker over the years.

[Kim]

Amusing..

two of my favorites:




and:
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"He leaves the Sendak lying around, but he's never actually read it"

[Scott]

One of my favorite New Yorker cartoon books. It helps that the subject is dear to my heart, and I’ve always thought Mankoff did the best editing job on this series. Five stars.

[Sanjukta]

A book that will leave you full of laughs.

[Elizabeth A]

This anthology collects 104 cartoons from the New Yorker that pertain in some manner to all things literary. Some are fantastic, others not so much. Some of my fave ones had to do with how books are arranged on shelves in bookstores and libraries. For example:

Option 1. Sorted by attention span - Short/Medium/Long.
Option 2. Sorted by book size - Small/Medium/Large.

This is a quick fun read for bibliophiles. You know who you are.

[Schnaucl]

A fine collection of literary cartoons. Some of them I had to stretch to see the literature/book reference but most had an obvious connection. There were a lot of cartoons about rejection letters and first time novelists though. There were some funny cartoons but nothing that made me more than smile.

[Jason Schmidt]

Elaine Benes was correct: “I don’t get it.” Honestly, I understood just about every literary allusion, non sequitur, pun, and malapropism, but I laughed at only a couple, as most were rather simplistic, pretentious or even reductive. These are fine, but as they purport to be some of the best literary cartoons of the New Yorker, they just left a lot to be desired. These 100 cartoons took me roughly 15 minutes to read, allowing for time to both consume and contemplate the less than subtle humor. And, I will say it, the artistry of the cartoons, putting the humor to the side for a moment, themselves often lack depth or creativity. There were a few “winners” for me, and some are clever, but as a collection, the majority just felt like cartoons that highbrow, comedic snobs, whom believe anyone who doesn’t “get it” are just not sophisticated enough to do so, would enjoy without really being able to explain why. To paraphrase Elaine’s cartoon: I wish these jokes were funnier.

[Sinta]

A few goodies amongst many average/repetitive/straight up humourless ones.

Some favs:
James Joyce's Refrigerator
To Do
1. Call bank
2. Dry cleaner
3. Forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race
4. Call mom

*two kids* "He leaves the new Sendak lying around, but he's never actually read it"

*Adam and Eve under apple tree* "I can't help thinking there's a book in this"

*Two women, one with an A on her lapel, another with an A+*

*kid looking at picture book* "Sorry, Barrington, but you've failed to live up to the glib promise of your early chapters"

*boy reading book* "Timothy, if you never watch TV you'll never know what's going on in the world"

[Yilaine]

Nice collection, quick and amusing read.

[Davi Kladakis]

So funny. I have always loved reading The New Yorker. Even as a child I enjoyed the nuances in the cartoons.

[Haris]

Did I need some short books to meet my challenge? Yes.

[Dave]

Too funny!!

[Peter]

There were a couple duds, so about par for New Yorker cartoons.

[Lis]

perfect literary fun

[Moon Captain]

I laughed at basically every cartoon.

[Nathalie]

Nothing but cartoons about books! LOVE IT!

[Rich Farrell]

Like the other topics in this collection, some are funny but few are thought-provoking. It’s very of the “Sunday Funnies” variety.

[Rose Rosetree]

If your sense of humor is sophisticated enough to dress up in a top hat and tails, you're ready for a laugh-out-loudish treat. And many a delighted chortle.

[An]

2,5

[Julia]

Some cartoons made me laugh out loud, some I didn't understand. Will read again!

[Jennifer Robb]

A friend sent me this book as part of a care package. It's a collection of cartoons that all relate in some way to literature. Most were amusing, but a few fell flat for me.

[Judy]

During covid, I started to clip cartoons that had to do with books and/or reading. Several of the ones I saved are included in this collection.

Great cover art!

[Susan Reyna]

Funny assortment of cartoons for bookish folk!

[Cathy]

I bought this second-hand for my husband. I like to keep his humor shelf well stocked. But then I got stuck in a carline, not moving, with nothing to do, so I ended up reading it myself. I think he'll enjoy it. Silliness. Shh! Don't tell him it's coming.

There were some good ones that I'd like to share with others, but there were also some that weren't clean.

t s eliot, nancy drew, huckleberry finn, dostoyevsky, moby dick, tom sawyer, dr jekyll and mr hyde, emily dickinson, maurice sendak, earnest hemingway, william shakespeare, hamlet, the great gatsby, madame bovary, jean-paul sartre, cinderella, jane austin, edgar allen poe, stephen king, james joyce, war and peace, gone with the wind, charles dickens

[Ryan Mishap]

Much like the comics scattered throughout an issue of the New Yorker itself, one or two make you chuckle and the rest are loathsome. "Literary cartoons" was perhaps a loosely defined moniker or else its parameters were expanded in order to fill the book-size--whatever the reasoning,w ait, check that, I don't think there was much reasoning put into this.

[Mike (the Paladin)]

As one of the millions of unpublished writers (probably on this sight....maybe multiple millions) I found these side splitting to mildly humorous. I think one of my favorites is the man standing on a tall stack of self-help books, with a noose around his neck.

[Bryce Wilson]

James Joyce's To Do List:

- Call Bank
- Dry Cleaner
- Forge In The Smithy Of My Soul The Uncreated Conscience of My Race
- Call Mom

[Malbadeen]

Another book that seems to have gone MIA from my bookshelf (I need to stop hosting so many family get togethers at my house).