June 8, 2021 Department of Tomfoolery Anatomy of a Hoax By Dan Piepenbring Photo courtesy of Penguin Young Readers. Eric Carle, the author and illustrator of more than seventy books that captivated, amused, and educated generations of children, died last month at ninety-one. Carle’s work, and his seemingly effortless connection to young readers, was motivated by the privations of his own childhood. Raised in Nazi Germany, he was forced to dig trenches on the Siegfried line; his father, whom he adored, had become a prisoner of war in Russia. Carle’s later proclivity for vivid, exuberant colors was a reaction against the “grays, browns and dirty greens” of buildings camouflaged to protect against bombing. After the war, in America, he worked as a commercial artist, developing meticulous collages of tissue paper and acrylics that soon launched his career as an illustrator and children’s writer. His most famous book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, came in 1969, and has sold more than 55 million copies worldwide. “I think it is a book of hope,” he said on its fiftieth anniversary, in 2019. “Children need hope. You—little insignificant caterpillar—can grow up into a beautiful butterfly and fly into the world with your talent.” If you looked at Twitter after Carle’s death, you may not have seen that quotation. It was lost in the din surrounding another remark: My publisher and I fought bitterly over the stomachache scene in The Very Hungry Caterpillar. The caterpillar, you’ll recall, feasts on cake, ice cream, salami, pie, cheese, sausage, and so on. After this banquet I intended for him to proceed immediately to his metamorphosis, but my publisher insisted that he suffer an episode of nausea first—that some punishment follow his supposed overeating. This disgusted me. It ran entirely contrary to the message of the book. The caterpillar is, after all, very hungry, as sometimes we all are. He has recognized an immense appetite within him and has indulged it, and the experience transforms him, betters him. Including the punitive stomachache ruined the effect. It compromised the book. This story was drawn from Carle’s interview with The Paris Review for Young Readers, and tens of thousands of people shared it in praise and remembrance. “What a good man,” one wrote. Another posted, “Eric Carle said fuck the system eat cake and be unapologetically hungry.” A third was inspired to go big for lunch: “a chicken Parm and a whole ass order of garlic knots.” Nigella Lawson retweeted the story, Smithsonian Magazine included it in their obituary, and the parenting site Motherly noted that it had “a profound impact … Eric Carle recognized the harm in implying shame should be something a living creature feels simply for eating food they need to eat in order to grow.” On KQED, during a live broadcast, the radio host asked Carle’s son, Rolf, for more details about the stomachache quarrel. “That’s one of the stories I haven’t heard,” Rolf said, “and when you get an answer, please get it to me.” Read More
April 24, 2020 Department of Tomfoolery Our Motto By Maira Kalman © Maira Kalman I am upstate with my son, Alex, and his wife, also named Alex. Like everyone else on planet earth, we are thinking nonstop about the future. The economy. The forces of good and evil. About the meaning of time and, of course, life and death. There is also another subject on my mind: paper towels. Specifically Bounty Select-A-Size paper towels. This is not a new interest for me. I have loved Bounty Select-A-Size for a long time. I have always been impressed and dazzled by this bit of American language and American ingenuity. You can choose the size of the paper towel you need. Not too much, not too little. How did we function before this? The promises, slogans, and jingles of American products have populated my life since I arrived in this country in 1954. Every one of us has their favorites. PLOP PLOP FIZZ FIZZ OH WHAT A RELIEF IT IS; YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE JEWISH TO LOVE LEVY’S; I KNOW YOU HAVE A HEADACHE, BUT DON’T TAKE IT OUT ON HER; LIKE A GAL NEEDS A GUY, LIKE AN X NEEDS A Y, LIKE ALMOST ANY FOOD NEED RITZ. I want to know who invented Select-A-Size? When? Why? And when did Brawny come up with their competitive Tear-A-Square? Which is not bad. Poetry in motion. Last night, with a lull in my schedule, I wrote an email to Procter & Gamble, the parent company of Bounty. I acknowledged that in such dismal times my question might seem frivolous, but asked if they could supply the answer. I received an immediate auto-response. If I was a journalist with an urgent deadline… but if not… Since I was in the latter category, I did not expect a response. But still I woke up in the middle of the night to check my email, just in case they had written back. I imagined a P&G archivist/historian of all paper products, alone in a huge building, responding with precision and thoughtfulness to my query. Alas, still no reply. Read More
April 9, 2020 Department of Tomfoolery The Paris Review’s Poetry Crossword By Adrienne Raphel Jigsaw puzzles are sold out around the country, but here’s an absolutely free, no-shipping-required, Paris Review crossword puzzle. Celebrate Poetry Month by taking your mind off the world. Can you find all the poets clue-ed from our archives? Play below, or print it out by clicking here. Adrienne Raphel is the author of Thinking Inside the Box: Adventures With Crosswords and The Puzzling People Who Can’t Live Without Them.
March 11, 2020 Department of Tomfoolery The Paris Review Crossword By Adrienne Raphel photo by Wil540art, wikimedia commons With everyone staying inside a bit more these days, here’s a Paris Review crossword puzzle to while away the hours. Take your mind off the ambient anxiety by finding the writers clue-ed from our archives. Play below, or print it out by clicking here. Adrienne Raphel is the author of Thinking Inside the Box: Adventures With Crosswords and The Puzzling People Who Can’t Live Without Them.
August 19, 2019 Department of Tomfoolery Mistranslated Book Titles Contest By The Paris Review Elaine Steinbeck, John Steinbeck’s widow, was once in a bookstore in Yokohama. Unable to parse the Japanese alphabet, she asked the owner if he had any books by her late husband. He thought for a moment, then said, yes, he had The Angry Raisins. This anecdote so amused us here at The Paris Review that we began to mistranslate other titles, challenging each other to decipher them. Can you guess the correct titles for Tiny Ladies or Interminable Funnies? Sign up with your email below, and see how many you can solve. Winners will be entered to receive our brand new (and, if we do say so, very stylish) Paris Review bag. a Rafflecopter giveaway
January 2, 2019 Department of Tomfoolery Classic Literature as Fortune Cookie Fortunes By Jean-Luc Bouchard Happy 2019! Allow us to tell your fortune for the year to come using ten classic novels: 1. Lord of the Flies An exotic trip is just around the corner. 2. The Jungle You’ll be amazed by the results of your hard work. 3. Beloved The one you love is closer than you think. Read More