This legendary Jewish humorist was 'the most negative writer of his era' — can he still speak to ours?

The Forward

Lean Left

High Factuality

This legendary Jewish humorist was 'the most negative writer of his era' — can he still speak to ours?

With the publication of new editions of books by Sidney Joseph Perelman in the prestigious Library of America (LOA) series, one might be inclined to ask whether Perelman is really a humorist for the ages. Following up on a 2011 LOA anthology of Perelman’s work, the volumes, Crazy Like a Fox and Cloudland Revisited, feature wordplay inspired by banalities of American popular publishing and film culture. Perelman was born in New York and raised in…