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아카데미 각본상 후보로 12번이나 노미네이트되었고, 아카데미 감독상과 각본상 등을 수상한 영화감독 우디 앨런의 단편소설집. 「뉴요커」에 연재한 글로, 우디 앨런은 총 18편의 단편 속에서 철학과 음악, 미술, 과학 등 다양한 분야에 대한 깊은 탐구 정신과 패러디 기법 등을 통해 인생에 대한 자전적 성찰을 펼쳐 보인다.

이 책에서 우디 앨런은 모든 예술적 장르에 대한 탐구 정신과 패러디 기법, 자전적 성찰 등을 통해 인생에 대한 그의 철학적 유희를 발산한다. 음식에 관한 단상을 여러 철학자들의 사상을 통해 패러디하고, 사람들의 속물근성을 풍자해 웃음 뒤에 페이소스를 느끼게 만드는 등 재기 발랄한 위트와 독설이 가득하다.

특히 사교육 문제나 인터넷 경매 등 우리 사회에서도 종종 문제가 되는 소재를 다룬 단편들에는 사회 평등과 인간에 대한 존중 등 인류가 지향해야 할 가치들에 대한 우디 앨런의 날카로운 사회 비판이 녹아들어 있다. 그래서 그의 글에 비친 우리의 삶은 우스꽝스럽고 비통하지만 한편 따뜻하다.

아들을 고급 사립 유치원에 입학시키려고 뇌물을 쓰다 전 재산을 날리는 부부 이야기 '탈락', 성스러워야 할 기도문마저도 이베이에 주문하는 사람들이 등장하는 '할렐루야, 매진입니다!', 허황된 물욕으로 사이비 종교에 빠지는 남자 이야기 '실수는 인간의 일, 공중 부양은 신의 일' 등 총 18편의 단편이 수록되어 있다.

“I am greatly relieved that the universe is finally explainable. I was beginning to think it was me.”–Woody Allen

Here, in his first collection since his three hilarious classics Getting Even, Without Feathers, and Side Effects, Woody Allen has managed to write a book that not only answers the most profound questions of human existence but is the perfect size to place under any short table leg to prevent wobbling.

“I awoke Friday, and because the universe is expanding it took me longer than usual to find my robe,” he explains in a piece on physics called “Strung Out.” In other flights of inspirational sanity we are introduced to a cast of characters only Allen could imagine: Jasper Nutmeat, Flanders Mealworm, and the independent film mogul E. Coli Biggs, just to name a few. Whether he is writing about art, sex, food, or crime (“Pugh has been a policeman as far back as he can remember. His father was a notorious bank robber, and the only way Pugh could get to spend time with him was to apprehend him”) he is explosively funny.

In “This Nib for Hire,” a Hollywood bigwig comes across an author’s book in a little country store and describes it in a way that aptly captures this magnificent volume: “Actually,” the producer says, “I’d never seen a book remaindered in the kindling section before.”


From the Hardcover edition.

Here, in his first collection since his three hilarious classics Getting Even, Without Feathers, and Side Effects, Woody Allen has managed to write a book that not only answers the most profound questions of human existence but is also the perfect size to place under any short table leg to prevent wobbling.

In hysterical flights of inspirational sanity we are introduced to a cast of characters only Allen could imagine: Jasper Nutmeat, Flanders Mealworm, and the independent film mogul E. Coli Biggs, just to name a few. Whether he is writing about art, sex, food, or crime, he is explosively funny. In “This Nib for Hire,” a Hollywood bigwig comes across an author’s book in a little country store and describes it in a way that aptly captures this magnificent volume: “Actually,” the producer says, “I’d never seen a book remaindered in the kindling section before.”

Praise for Mere Anarchy:

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

“The stories in Mere Anarchy deliver the same joys and foibles that have been with its author from the start.”
–Janet Maslin, The New York Times

“Uproarious . . . In each story the ornate and the vulgate slam together and make it rain polysyllabic absurdity.”
–The Wall Street Journal

“Nostalgically enjoyable . . . The stories in Mere Anarchy deliver the same joys and foibles that have been with its author from the start.”
–The New York Times

“Brilliant neurotica . . . unfailingly entertaining . . . [an] obsessive and seriously funny book.”
–Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Like the Carnegie’s one-pound sandwiches, Allen’s literary slapstick is . . . comedy on wry.”
–USA Today

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