There is a moment around mid 1990s in which I discovered Woody Allen and at the same time lost track of everything else he subsequently did as a director (he worked quite a lot with Scarlett Johansson, didn't he?). It happened just after the release of "Bullets over Broadway". It was 1994 and I remember how I was having Easter vacations in Rome with my parents. We were caught in a rainy Easter in typical Roman fashion and one evening we decided that it was pointless strolling around under downpours. Therefore, as it was too late to find shelter in any museum, we went straight to watch the last Woody's movie. I think that was also the last time I went to the cinema together with my parents. I was 12 years old and kind of a bore. My parents were both big fans of Mr Allen while I was vaguely aware of his background thanks to the Soon-Yi affair that was hugely gossiped around Italy.I don't have any special memory of "Bullets over Broadway" apart from the fact it was rather gloomy, with a few jokes which I was able to get, but overall ok. And yet from that moment on, I started watching more Woody Allen. I went backwards as far as Take the Money and Run and particularly liking "Bananas", "Annie Hall", "Zelig" and - on a far different level - "Manhattan"."Manhattan" became quite soon the first movie I watched more than twice and also the first movie I watched in original language (with English written subtitles to get it better) due to that awful dubbing business which made three generations of Italians unable to get any English.I briefly fell in love with Diane Keaton (!), quoted too many times Muriel Hemingway's final sentence "Not everybody gets corrupted" and still know large bits of "Manhattan" by heart.When a few years ago I heard the Italian dubbed version by mere coincidence I couldn't tolerate it. They simply cut most of the Isaac Davies / Woody Allen brilliant lines, probably thinking that our local audience was too stupid to get the jokes about, say, the August Strindberg Award or the references to Ingmar Bergman and Gustav Mahler. "Without Feathers" came out in 1975, four years after Bananas and four years before Manhattan in the same year in which Mr Allen directed Love and Death, which I've never seen. According to the cover of the book, this is supposed to be "The Hilarious Bestseller by Woody Allen". And it is, at some point. I mean, it certainly sold quite a lot. As for being hilarious, I wouldn't be that sure. In its best moments "Whithout Feathers" is outrageously funny and witty, but there were also several pages that I couldn't help but skip.Certainly "The Whore of Mensa" is a gem, just like "The Scrolls", "A Guide to some of the Lesser Ballets" and "Fabulous Tales and Mythical Beasts" are all very high and classic standards of Woody's repertoire. But the almost Dickensian "God" and the Beckettesque-Pirandellian "Death", the two plays that cover half of this thin book, are far too long-winded and wordy for my taste. I guess how they would sound better while performed on stage than black printed on paper. Moreover, there are a few minor episodes in this book which simply give no justice to the talent of Mr Allen like the amateurish "Slang Origins" and that tedious parody of Strindberg which is "Lovberg's Women Considered". Still, this is a book that in its best parts will make you laugh quite a lot if you like what early Allen brought on the big screen in the golden 1970s and silver 1980s. While if you're looking for the less stressfully self-obsessed and more continentally-sophisticated Allen that came out of the 1990s leaving his beloved New York behind for London, Venice and Barcelona, "Without Feathers" is definitely not kosher.
I love Woody Allen's work (films, books, scripts etc), the man is a comic genius. This book (Without Feathers, 1975) is like a comic book for grownups; short stories, lots of laughs! Woody Allen's humor in this book, is in the same vein as his early films, the usual crazy mix of sex, the metaphysical, and philosophical pondering. Great blend of intelligence and silliness! Without Feathers, is a witty & humorous with 15 or so short essays/stories on a variety of topics (everyday life). Without Feathers was Woody Allen's second collection of humorous pieces, and probably his best. These originally appeared in the early 1970's, in magazines like "The New Yorker" and "The New Republic." Some are short stories, like "No Kaddish for Weinstein" and "The Whore of Mensa." There are two plays, "Death" (the inspiration for Allen's "Shadows and Fog"), and the much better "God", a masterpiece of absurdity. There are parodies of Encyclopedia Brown ("Match Wits with Inspector Ford") and Henrik Ibsen (the hysterical "Lovborg's Women Considered"), irreverent essays on English literature and civil disobedience, reviews of some very bizarre ballets, and more. Without Feathers is fantastic, the humor here is very funny and not dated at all. You must pay close attention as the one-liners fly off the pages. Simply hilarious stuff. Hard to believe this was released in 1975. Good stuff!
Do You like book Without Feathers (1986)?
I am a big fan of Woody Allen and this book seemed his masterpiece of sort for me. Classic Woody Allen style humor !! This book literally makes you laugh out loud while reading ! It is a collection of hilarious essays and plays. The plays Death and God are filled with insanely funny dialogues. Examining Psychic Phenomena, A Brief Yet Helpful Guide to Civil Disobedience, The Early Essays, No Kaddish for Weinstein, If the Impressionists Had Been Dentists, are short essays written in typical Woody Allen style and can cause uncontrolled laughter!! The title itself is a parody of Hope Is the Thing with Feathers! The essay 'If the Impressionists Had Been Dentists' are Woody Allen's humorous take on letters of Vincent and Theo. This book is vintage Woody Allen and for someone who likes Woody Allen's style of humor this book is a must read !!
—Swapnil
تئوی عزیز،راستی، زندگی هیچوقت نمیخواهد با من درست تا کند؟ نومیدی مرا از پا درآورده! سرم دنگ دنگ صدا میکند! خانم سل شوویمر از من ادعای خسارت کرده است؛ چون که روکش دندانهایش را آن طور که دلم میخواست ساختم، نه آنطوری که به دهان مضحکش بخورد! درست است! من نمیتوانم مثل یک کاسبکار معمولی طبق سفارش کار کنم! من به این نتیجه رسیدن که روکش دندانهای او باید بزرگ و موجدار باشد؛ دندانهایی نامنظم و درهم برهم که مثل زبانههای آتش از هر طرف بیرون زدهاند! حالا طرف دلخور است، چون توی دهانش جفت و جور نمیشود. او خیلی بورژوا و ابله است و دلم می خواهد خرد و خمیرش کنم! سعی کردم دندان عاریهاش را به زور توی دهانش بچپانم. اما مثل چلچراغ صد شعله بیرون میزند. با این همه به نظر من زیباست. او ادعا میکند که نمیتواند چیزی بجود! به من چه که او میتواند بجود یا نمیتواند! تئو، من دیگر نمیتوانم مدت زیادی با این وضع ادامه دهم! از سزان پرسیدم که حاضر است با هم شریکی یک کارگاه بگیریم؟ اما او پیر و سست است و نمیتواند ابزارش را در دست نگه دارد و باید ابزار را به مچش بست، که با این وضعیت دقتش را از دست میدهد. وقتی هم که دستش توی دهان مریض میرود، بیشتر دندانها را میشکند تا آن که درستشان کند. چه میشود کرد؟...!ونسان
—Amir ali
I have recently read and reviewed here "Side Effects" by Woody Allen - perhaps the funniest book I have read in my entire life. Allen's "Without Feathers" is also very funny, but it is far from the greatness of his other work. The humor feels belabored. Let me quote: "On March 16, 1882, Mr. J.C. Dubbs awoke in the middle of the night and saw his brother Amos who had been dead for fourteen years, sitting at the foot of his bed flicking chickens. Dubbs asked his brother what he was doing there, and his brother said not to worry, he was dead and was only in town for the weekend. Dubbs asked his brother what it was like in "the other world", and his brother said it was not unlike Cleveland. He said he had returned to give Dubbs a message, which was that a dark-blue suit and Argyle socks are a big mistake."Coming from a less talented writer than Woody Allen this would be hilarious, yet coming from Allen it is humor of inferior quality. There are two long plays in the collection, "Death (A Play)" and "God (A Play)", which I had trouble with following, despite some hilarious passages. The best pieces are two short stories, "The Whore of Mensa" and really funny "If the Impressionists Had Been Dentists".If the author were some unknown, just beginning his or her career, I would assign three and a half of maybe even four stars. For Woody Allen, though, the rating is justTwo and a half stars.
—Lukasz Pruski
