Lardner's Writing

   
Work










 

• Zanzibar:  Lardner's first play, produced in Niles, Michigan in 1903 when he was just 18.  The program and play are re-produced in full. 
   
• Lardner on Film:  a listing of TV and movie adaptations of Lardner's stories.  It also lists the movies in which Lardner appeared in person or as a character. 

Introduction: 
Lardner was a prolific and varied writer, churning out newspaper columns, short stories, humor, commentary, light verse, plays, songs, and even continuity for a comic strip.

Ring W. Lardner: A Bibliography by Bruccoli and Layman, an essential book for the Lardner collector or scholar, catalogs nearly all of Lardner's published work. The alpha-numeric code established in that book is used commonly among Lardner book sellers and buyers. It is very well organized, thoroughly researched, and usefully indexed.

As a complement to the Bruccoli and Layman's bibliography, I will publish on these pages:

• Updates and Corrections to the bibliography.
• Genre and subject listings. The bibliography lists only according to type of publication (books, magazines, newspapers, etc.), so I will include listings of short stories, of humor, of plays, of baseball stories, and the like. I have completed two such lists: the first lists his short stories in chronological order (published date); the second lists his short stories in alphabetical order.
  Information about his theater work and his stories that were produced as movies is nearly completed.

I will also include excerpts from his work. If it is difficult to find, good, formerly published in book form, and no longer copyrighted, I will try to print it in full. Currently, I have excerpts from "Alibi Ike" (I know, it's easy to find), Bib Ballads, and The Young Immigrunts. Full-text is available for the essay "Sport and Play," and the books Own Your Own Home and Symptoms of Being 35. I am working on Regular Fellows I Have Met and "Phil and his 4D."

Books

1. BIB BALLADS, 1915. A collection of light verse, illustrated by Fontaine Fox.
2. YOU KNOW ME AL, 1916. The "Busher" letters of Jack Keefe to Al Blanchard, first published in the Saturday Evening Post.
3. GULLIBLE'S TRAVELS, Etc., 1917. First of the "Wise Boob" collections, first published in the Saturday Evening Post.
4. MY FOUR WEEKS IN FRANCE, 1918. His attempt at war reporting for Collier's.
5. TREAT 'EM ROUGH, 1918. Jack Keefe goes off to war and continues letter writing. First published in the Saturday Evening Post.
6. THE REAL DOPE, 1919. Stories originally published in The Saturday Evening Post.
7. OWN YOUR OWN HOME, 1919. Series of stories originally published in Red Book, illustrated by Fontaine Fox.
8. THE YOUNG IMMIGRUNTS, 1920. Parody of THE YOUNG VISITORS, originally published in The Saturday Evening Post.
9. SYMPTOMS OF BEING 35, 1921. Humor, first published in The American Magazine.
10. THE BIG TOWN, 1921. Another "wise boob," originally published in The Saturday Evening Post.
11. SAY IT WITH OIL, 1923. Humor about wives paired in the same book with Nina Wilcox Putnam's SAY IT WITH BRICKS.
12. HOW TO WRITE SHORT STORIES, 1924. Lardner's first serious collection of short stories and his first book with Scribner's. Title is Fitzgerald's.
13. WHAT OF IT?, 1925. A collection of humor pieces. It contains the famous nonsense plays.
14. THE LOVE NEST AND OTHER STORIES, 1926. Contains "Haircut."
15. THE STORY OF A WONDER MAN, 1927. Satirical autobiography.
16. ROUND UP, 1929. All the best short stories.
17. JUNE MOON, 1930. Comedy written with George S. Kaufman
18. LOSE WITH A SMILE, 1933. Lardner's last baseball writing.
19. FIRST AND LAST. Collected after his death.

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