Side Effects (First Edition)

Woody Allen

ISBN 10: 0394511042 / ISBN 13: 9780394511047

Published by Random House, New York, 1980

About this Item

Random House, New York, 1980. First edition. First printing, with full number line (down to 2, as is customary for Random House). A fine copy in a fine jacket. A clean copy. Price intact on jacket. Comes with archival-quality jacket protector. Octavo, original half cloth. Side Effects is a collection of 17 comic short stories written by Woody Allen between 1975 and 1980, all but one of which were previously published in, variously, The New Republic, The New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Kenyon Review. It includes Allen's 1978 O. Henry Award winning story, The Kugelmass Episode. Author's third collection of short comic pieces. Lit-A.

Seller Inventory # FLAHIVE-1460

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Side Effects (First Edition)
• Publisher: Random House, New York
• Publication Date: 1980
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0394511042
• ISBN 13: 9780394511047
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine

About this title

Synopsis

A humor classic by one of the funniest writers today, SIDE EFFECTS is a treat for all those who know his work and those just discovering how gifted he is. Included here are such classics as REMEMBERING NEEDLEMAN, THE KUGELMASS EPISODE, a new sory called CONFESSIONS OF A BUGLAR, and more.

Review

Before Woody Allen set his sights on becoming the next Ingmar Bergman, he made a fleeting (but largely successful) attempt at becoming the next S.J Perelman. Side Effects, his third and final collection of humor pieces, shows his efforts. These essays appeared in The New Yorker during the late 1970s, as he showed more and more discontent with his funnyman status. Fear not, humor fans--Allen's still funny. He is less manic, however, than in his positively goofy Getting Even/Without Feathers days, and this makes Side Effects a more nuanced read. Woody picks and chooses when to flash the laughs, as in an article discussing UFOs:

[I]n 1822 Goethe himself notes a strange celestial phenomenon. "En route home from the Leipzig Anxiety Festival," he wrote, "I was crossing a meadow, when I chanced to look up and saw several fiery red balls suddenly appear in the southern sky. They descended at a great rate of speed and began chasing me. I screamed that I was a genius and consequently could not run very fast, but my words were wasted. I became enraged and shouted imprecations at them, whereupon they flew away frightened. I related this story to Beethoven, not realizing he had already gone deaf, and he smiled and nodded and said, "Right."

Though not as explosively, mind-alteringly funny as his earlier books, Side Effects is still loaded with chuckles; the much-anthologized "Kugelmass Episode" is worth the price of the book. For fans of his films--or for anyone who wants a final glimpse of Woody in his first, best role as court jester, Side Effects is a must-have. --Michael Gerber