The Night Life of the Gods, by Thorne Smith
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The Night Life of the Gods, by Thorne Smith
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The Night Life of the Gods by Thorne Smith Notice: This Book is published by Historical Books Limited (www.publicdomain.org.uk) as a Public Domain Book, if you have any inquiries, requests or need any help you can just send an email to publications@publicdomain.org.uk This book is found as a public domain and free book based on various online catalogs, if you think there are any problems regard copyright issues please contact us immediately via DMCA@publicdomain.org.uk
The Night Life of the Gods, by Thorne Smith - Published on: 2015-09-15
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 11.00" h x .61" w x 8.50" l, 1.39 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 270 pages
The Night Life of the Gods, by Thorne Smith From the Inside Flap Thorne Smith's rapid-fire dialogue, brilliant sense of the absurd, and literary aplomb put him in the same category as the beloved P. G. Wodehouse. The Night Life of the Gods--the madcap story of a scientist who instigates a nocturnal spree with the Greek gods--is arguably his most sparkling comedic achievement. Hunter Hawk has a knack for annoying his ultrarespectable relatives. He likes to experiment and he particularly likes to experiment with explosives. His garage-cum-laboratory is a veritable minefield, replete with evil-smelling clouds of vapor through which various bits of wreckage and mysteriously bubbling test tubes are occasionally visible. With the help of Megaera, a fetching nine-hundred-year-old lady leprechaun he meets one night in the woods, he masters the art (if not the timing) of transforming statues into people. And when he practices his new witchery in the stately halls of the Metropolitan Museum of Art--setting Bacchus, Mercury, Neptune, Diana, Hebe, Apollo, and Perseus loose on the unsuspecting citizenry of Prohibition-era New York--the stage is set for Thorne Smith at his most devilish and delightful. Born in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1892, educated at Dartmouth, THORNE SMITH was an early cohort of Dorothy Parker's. He achieved literary success in 1926 with the publication of Topper and went on to publish nine novels in the next eight years. He earned a passionate following among both critics and readers before his death, at the age of forty-two, in 1934. CAROLYN SEE is the author of nine books. Her latest novel is The Handyman. She lives in Pacific Palisades, California.
About the Author Thorne Smith, a master of urbane wit and sophisticated repartee, was the author of nine novels, including The Night Life of the Gods, Topper Takes a Trip, and The Stray Lamb. He was born in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1892 and died in 1934.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Criticizing an ExplosionThe small family group gathered in the library was only conventionally alarmed by the sound of a violent explosion--a singularly self-centered sort of explosion."Well, thank God, that's over," said Mrs. Alice Pollard Lambert, swathing her sentence in a sigh intended to convey an impression of hard-pressed fortitude.With bleak eyes she surveyed the fragments of a shattered vase. Its disastrous dive from the piano as a result of the shock had had in it something of the mad deliberation of a suicide's plunge. Its hideous days were over now, and Mrs. Lambert was dimly aware of another little familiar something having been withdrawn from her life."I hope to high heaven this last one satisfies him for this spring at least," was the petulant comment of Alfred, the male annex of Alice."I've been waiting and waiting and waiting," came a thin disembodied voice from a dark corner. "Night and day I've been waiting and expecting----""And hoping and praying, no doubt, Grandpa," interrupted Daphne, idly considering a run in her stocking and wondering what she was going to do about it if anything, and when would be the least boring time to do it if she did, which she doubted."Alice," complained Grandpa Lambert from the security of his shadows, "that baggage has no respect for her elders."Stella, femininely desirable but domestically a washout, made one of her typical off-balance entrances. It started with a sort of scrambled hovering at the door, developed this into a mad dash into the room, and terminated in a tragic example of suspended animation somewhere in the immaculate neighborhood of Mrs. Alice Pollard Lambert."Been an explosion, ma'am," announced Stella in a deflated voice. "Mr. Betts says so.""Now all you need to do is to fall dead at our feet to make the picture complete," remarked Daphne."Yes, Miss Daffy," said Stella brightly."And if Mr. Betts says there's been an explosion," Daffy continued, "then there must have been an explosion. Betts is never wrong. You go back, Stella dear, and thank him for letting us know so promptly.""But, Miss Daffy, what shall we do about it?" asked Stella, vainly looking for some light to guide amid the encircling gloom."About what, Stella?" asked Daffy."This explosion, miss," and Stella extended her hands as if she were offering a young explosion for the inspection of Daphne."Stella," that young lady explained with sweet but jaded patience, "one doesn't do things about explosions. Explosions are quite competent to do things for themselves. All sorts of things. The most one can do for an explosion is to leave it entirely alone until it has decided to become a ruin. Also, you can blink at an explosion respectfully in the news reels and feel good about its ghastly results. You'll probably gasp at this one on your night off next Thursday." She paused, then added, "With that stout fellow Tim breathing heavily in your left ear."This last realistic observation was enough to effect the untidy departure of Stella."Oh, Miss Daffy," was all that maiden said."I do wish she would refrain from calling you by that vulgar sobriquet," said Mrs. Lambert."Why, Mother?" the daughter asked. "I am. Very. That's why I like myself, and that's why I like him. He's daffy, too."She pointed in the general direction of the explosion."In that you're right, for a change," agreed her father. "He belongs in some institution. What does he mean by getting us here in this house and then having explosions all over the place? I call it downright inconsiderate."If Mr. Alfred Pollard Lambert had forgotten the small detail that after having lost his wife's fortune in various business misadventures he had sought sanctuary for himself and dependents in his brother-in-law's previously tranquil home, Daffy had not been so remiss. However, out of an innate sense of sportsmanship she rejected the opening her bumptious parent had offered her, merely contenting herself by observing:"Well, if I had a home of my own I'd explode all over it as much as I jolly well liked. I'd explode from attic to cellar just as long as I felt the least bit explosive.""I know, my dear," said her mother. "No one is saying your uncle hasn't a perfect right to explode whenever and wherever he pleases, but you must admit there's a certain limitation, certain restrictions of decency. One explosion, even two, we could understand and condone, but a series, a constant fusillade--it isn't normal. Good taste alone would suggest a little less boisterous avocation and a little less dangerous one.""But, Mother," protested the girl, "he has never invited any of us to participate in one of his explosions. He's been very decent about it and kept them entirely to himself.""Most of these scientific johnnies are content with a couple of explosions," said Alfred, "but your uncle is never satisfied. He seems to think that life is just one long Fourth of July.""The day will come," intoned the devitalized voice from the corner. "Mark the words of an old man. The day will come when we'll find ourselves completely blown to bits."This dire prediction struck Daphne as funny. She allowed herself several contemplative giggles."I can see it all," she said. "A lot of bits rushing busily about in a mad scramble to find one another. Hands collecting feet, legs, livers, and such, and putting them aside in a neat pile until all the bits have been assembled. Well, I hope I don't find some of this," she continued, spanking herself resoundingly. "I'm getting altogether too self-assertive in that quarter.""Daphne!" Mrs. Lambert exclaimed. "You're positively obscene."For a moment the young lady stood in rapt contemplation of some inner glory."I have it," she said at last. "Listen:"Said a certain king to his queen:'In spots you grow far from lean.''I don't give a damn,You've always loved ham,'She replied, and he said, 'How obscene!' "From the dark corner inhabited by Grandpa Lambert issued a strange and unexpected sound, a sound which partook of the nature of both a cough and a cackle, such a sound as might clatter from the lipless mouth of a skull well pleased by some macabre memory."Why, Father!" exclaimed Alfred Lambert. "You're laughing, actually laughing.""And at such a thing," added Mrs. Lambert with deep disapproval."Can't help it," wheezed the old gentleman. "Always had a weakness for limericks. Got a few of my own if I could only remember them."He promptly fell to brooding not uncheerfully over those lost limericks of other years."You old darling," said Daffy, going over to the thin, crouched figure. "You've been holding out on me.""Disgraceful," sniffed Alice Pollard Lambert. "Demoralizing."Alfred made no further comment. He had a well defined suspicion that the old chap was holding out on him something far more desirable than limericks. If he could only lay his hands on his father's bank book. For some years now an inspection of that little book had been one of Alfred Lambert's chief aims in life. Just one little peek was all he asked. After that he could order his conduct according to the size of the figures in the book. As things stood now he was being in all likelihood dutifully and enduringly filial without any assurance of adequate compensation. Yet there was always that chance, that slim but not impossible chance. Hellishly tantalizing for an acquisitive nature. Alfred's was such a nature."There's one about the Persians," the old man was saying to his granddaughter. "Oh, a delightful thing, my dear child, an exquisite bit of vulgarity. Of course, I couldn't repeat it to you. Maybe after you're married. I'll tell your husband, and he'll tell you--if he's the right sort of a husband.""I'm sure Alfred never sullies my ears with such indecencies," said Mrs. Lambert with a rising inflection in her overcultured voice."He doesn't get out enough," grated the old man. "Do you both good.""Your suggestion, Grandpa, is the greatest inducement to matrimony I've ever had," said Daphne, patting the old man's shoulder. "I'll look for a victim immediately.""A full-legged girl like yourself shouldn't have far to look," the old man said with an unedifying chuckle. "In my day young men had to depend almost entirely on the sense of touch in such matters. Nowadays the sense of sight seems to play a more important part. It simplifies things, perhaps, but robs courtship of a lot of adventure.""Disgusting!" pronounced Mrs. Lambert, then added with a view to changing the subject, "Don't you think, Alfred, that Stella was right? Shouldn't we do something about this explosion?""Perhaps," agreed Alfred. "He usually comes out after he's had one.""Rather rapidly," remarked Daffy. "The last time he came out through the side of the house with a couple of bricks in his pants.""But he hates to be disturbed," went on Mrs. Lambert. "You know how he is.""I know how he was," replied Daffy. "How he is now, God only knows.""Perhaps it got him this time," suggested Grandpa Lambert, not without a touch of complacency."Think we should go, Alfred?" asked his wife."Well, if that explosion failed to disturb him," Mr. Lambert observed, "I don't see how the intervention of mere mortals cou...
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24 of 24 people found the following review helpful. Sheer Entertainment By Johanna Stephens I was about 13 years old when I discovered this book. It had been left with others on the third floor of our home. They belonged to an Uncle who was overseas during WWII. Had my parents been aware of just what I was reading, I am sure they would have confiscated the book. I was well into my 20's when I 're-discovered' Night Life of the Gods, among other Thorn Smith books, and read them again without the little girl giggles. We still laugh aloud over the delicious romps of Smith's characters. The tales are timeless and still a lot of fun. Not the least bit significant of anything; a leap from so much seriousness in print today. Read, laugh and enjoy a fine humorist.
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful. A Touch of Maniacal Genius By Doug Mitchell Thorne Smith should be hailed as one the greatest writers of the 20th Century. I never heard about him from any of my teachers in high school or college. It took a great friend of mine to give me her copy of Nightlife of the Gods to get me started. And I thank her all the time for it.This book is absolutely incredible in the amount of hilarity it contains. I just can't write enough about this book, as of many of his other books that are out of print....Rain in the Doorway chief among them. But anyways, buy this book for your funny bone's sake and you will not got home angry. Rest, Relax, Read, Enjoy. This book is worth every cent you pay for it.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful. The most hilarious book I've ever read, period. By A Customer I first read this book back in 1977. The reason I did so beacuase of a mythological course I was taking in school. The characters touched me and made me laugh until I was in tears and people around me asked what was so funny. It's hard to explain that to some but now every time I need to laugh all I have to remember is that book, it's characters and the sheer hilarity it brought to my day. I've also read many other books by Thorne Smith and have found that the lessons they impart to us about everyday life and the spots we get ourselves in sometimes without our doing can turn out to be some of the best times of our lives. I'm looking forward to buying this book again in 2000 as my copy has been slowly destroyed over the years, and I am in need of another to get me through the next 30 years. I do belive that everyone who has a hidden sense of humor should read this book as it might make them smile more often and especially those in stressful careers and jobs. You'll love it!
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