This article is about the original short story. For the 1947 film, see The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947 film). For the 2013 film, see The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013 film).
"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty"
Short story by James Thurber
Country
United States
Language
English
Genre(s)
short story
Publication
Published in
The New Yorker
Publication type
Magazine
Publisher
Harcourt, Brace and Company
Media type
Print (Periodical, hardback and paperback)
Publication date
1939 (magazine), 1942 (book)
Chronology
Death in the Zoo
Interview with a Lemming
"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" (1939) is a short story by James Thurber. The most famous of Thurber's stories,[1] it first appeared in The New Yorker on March 18, 1939, and was first collected in his book My World and Welcome to It (Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1942).[2] It has since been reprinted in James Thurber: Writings and Drawings (The Library of America, 1996, ISBN 1-883011-22-1), is available on-line on the New Yorker website,[3] and is one of the most anthologized short stories in American literature.[4] The story is considered one of Thurber's "acknowledged masterpieces".[5] It was made into a 1947 film of the same name, with Danny Kaye in the title role, though the film is very different from the original story. It was also adapted into a 2013 film, which is again very different from the original.
The name Walter Mitty and the derivative word "Mittyesque" have entered the English language,[6] denoting an ineffectual person who spends more time in heroic daydreams than paying attention to the real world, or more seriously, one who intentionally attempts to mislead or convince others that he is something that he is not.
In his autobiography My First Hundred Years in Hollywood, Warner Brothers studio head Jack L. Warner described the actor Errol Flynn in the following way: "To the Walter Mittys of the world he was all the heroes in one magnificent, sexy, animal package."
^Napierkowski, Marie Rose, ed. (January 2006). "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty: Introduction". Short Stories for Students, Vol. 1. eNotes.com. Archived from the original on 2007-08-15. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
^"Note on the Texts", James Thurber: Writings and Drawings (The Library of America, 1996, ISBN 1-883011-22-1)
^James Thurber (18 March 1939). "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 30 June 2014. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
^"Thurber: Mitty and Dangerous". Today in Literature. todayinliterature.com. Archived from the original on 2008-09-24. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
^Dust jacket introduction, James Thurber: Writings and Drawings (The Library of America, 1996, ISBN 1-883011-22-1)
^Delahunty, Andrew; Dignen, Sheila (2012). "Mitty, Walter". Oxford Dictionary of Reference and Allusion. Oxford University Press. p. 243. ISBN 978-0199567461.
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