Mr. Munchausen: Bangs Classic Collection

Front Cover
谷月社, Oct 30, 2015 - Fiction

 

There are moments of supreme embarrassment in the lives of persons given to veracity,—indeed it has been my own unusual experience in life that the truth well stuck to is twice as hard a proposition as a lie so obvious that no one is deceived by it at the outset. I cannot quite agree with my friend, Caddy Barlow, who says that in a tight place it is better to lie at once and be done with it than to tell the truth which will need forty more truths to explain it, but I must confess that in my forty years of absolute and conscientious devotion to truth I have found myself in holes far deeper than any my most mendacious of friends ever got into. I do not propose, however, to desert at this late hour the Goddess I have always worshipped because she leads me over a rough and rocky road, and whatever may be the hardships involved in my wooing I intend to the very end to  remain the ever faithful slave of Mademoiselle Veracité. All of which I state here in prefatory mood, and in order, in so far as it is possible for me to do so, to disarm the incredulous and sniffy reader who may be inclined to doubt the truth of my story of how the manuscript of the following pages came into my possession. I am quite aware that to some the tale will appear absolutely and intolerably impossible. I know that if any other than I told it to me I should not believe it. Yet despite these drawbacks the story is in all particulars, essential and otherwise, absolutely truthful.

The facts are briefly these:

It was not, to begin with, a dark and dismal evening. ...

 

Selected pages

Contents

THE SPORTING TOUR OF MR MUNCHAUSEN
THREE MONTHS IN A BALLOON
SOME HUNTING STORIES FOR CHILDREN
THE STORY OF JANG
HE TELLS THE TWINS OF FIREWORKS
SAVED BY A MAGIC LANTERN
AN ADVENTURE IN THE DESERT
DECORATION DAY IN THE CANNIBAL ISLANDS
MR MUNCHAUSENS ADVENTURE WITH A SHARK
THE BARON AS A RUNNER
MR MUNCHAUSEN MEETS HIS MATCH
WRIGGLETTO
THE POETIC JUNEBUG TOGETHER WITH SOME REMARKSON THE GILLYHOOLY BIRD
A LUCKY STROKE

Common terms and phrases

ain’t Amphibian Ananias and Sapphira anyhow ashore asked Ananias asked Angelica asked Diavolo asked the Twins ball balloon beautiful Beelzebub Beelzy bees began bicycle boa­constrictor Bonaparte brassey can’t cannibals canvasback duck cigar Cimmeria cough couldn’t course cried Decoration Day Desert of Sahara didn’t dinners dogs elephants Emperor engine eyes father feet fond gave Gehenna Gazette Gillyhooly bird giraffe golf happened heard hole horses huge hundred Imps isn’t Jang Jibski June­bug kill Lake Majolica laughed lion live look Ma’am miles minutes missionaries morning Mtulu Munchausen Nepaul never night o’clock play pond powder reached returned the Baron roar robbers sand Sapphira saved shark shot slippery elm snakes stop story Sulphur Mountain tell there’s thing thought told tree truth type­writer Uncle Munch wanted wasn’t whale What’s whoop whoopin Wriggletto yacht yards

About the author (2015)

 He was born in Yonkers, New York. His father Francis Nehemiah Bangs was a lawyer in New York City, as was his brother, Francis S. Bangs.

He went to Columbia University from 1880 to 1883 where he became editor of Columbia's literary magazine and contributed short anonymous pieces to humor magazines. After graduation in 1883, Bangs entered Columbia Law School but left in 1884 to become Associate Editor of Life under Edward S. Martin. Bangs contributed many articles and poems to the magazine between 1884 and 1888. During this period, Bangs published his first books.

In 1888 Bangs left Life to work at Harper's Magazine, Harper's Bazaar and Harper's Young People. From 1889 to 1900 he held the title of Editor of the Departments of Humor for all three Harper's magazines and from 1899 to 1901 served as active editor of Harper's Weekly. Bangs also served for a short time (January–June 1889) as the first editor of Munsey's Magazine and became editor of the American edition of the Harper-owned Literature from January to November 1899.

He left Harper & Brothers in 1901 and became editor of the New Metropolitan magazine in 1903. In 1904 he was appointed editor of Puck, perhaps the foremost American humor magazine of its day. In this period, he revived his earlier interest in drama. In 1906 he switched his focus to the lecture circuit.

During the period between 1901 & 1906, Mr. Bangs was known to have spent at least parts of his summers at the Profile House in Franconia, New Hampshire. He owned one of the 20 connected cottages adjacent to the large hotel, which he sold to Cornelius Newton Bliss in August of 1906. As a satirical writer, he was also known in the "Profile Cottage" circles as a jokester and prankster and was frequently the jovial topic of hotel guests and cottage owners alike.

Agnes Hyde Bangs, his wife with whom he had three sons, died in 1903. Bangs then married Mary Gray. In 1907 they moved from Yonkers to Ogunquit, Maine. John Kendrick Bangs died from stomach cancer in 1922 at age fifty-nine, in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Bibliographic information

TitleMr. Munchausen: Bangs Classic Collection
Volume 9 of Bangs Classic Collection
AuthorJohn Kendrick Bangs
Publisher谷月社, 2015
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Fiction / Classics
Fiction / Fantasy / General
Fiction / Literary
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