Collected Works Runyon, Damon: A to Izzard Omnibus (collected short fiction). v2. 11 Apr 2017

[GrannyGrump]

A to Izzard
By Alfred Damon Runyan (1880–1946)
264 short stories and sketches, with a Primer of Runyonese, Glossary, Bibliography, and Index of Titles.

The contents of this book were first published 1907 ~ 1946.
The text of this book is in the public domain in countries where copyright is “Life+70” or less.

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Alfred Damon Runyan (re-christened “Runyon” through a printer’s error early in his career) was an American sports writer, journalist, and short story writer. He was best known for his short stories celebrating the world of Broadway in New York City that grew out of the Prohibition era. He spun humorous and sentimental tales of gamblers, hustlers, actors, and gangsters, in his distinctive vernacular style known as “Runyonese”: a mixture of formal speech and colorful slang, almost always in present tense, and always devoid of contractions.

Runyon’s fictional world is perhaps best known today through the musical Guys and Dolls (based on “The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown” and “Blood Pressure”); the movie Lady for a Day, remade as Pocketful of Miracles (based on “Madame La Gimp”); and the movie that made Shirley Temple a star: Little Miss Marker, and its remakes.

(—Extracted and adapted from Wikipedia.)

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Runyon’s short fiction appears in numerous collections (15 titles during his lifetime, and at least a dozen more posthumously), with many of the pieces being recycled multiple times.

A to Izzard is my own compilation. This collection includes all the Broadway stories, presented in chronological order. Some stories from other “series” may be missing, due to unavailability of source material. This is the first appearance in any collection for the “Grandpap Mugg” and “Chelsea McBride” pieces.

I have added a bibliography of Runyon’s work, and an index of titles.
An “anonymous scribe” from MobileRead has generously provided a primer and glossary for translation of Runyonese (which I had the impudence to expand slightly).

Spoiler:

Ralph Sir Edward, actually. He didn't want credit, but I have to tell somebody, so you will keep the secret, won't you?

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You will find here stories and sketches full of humor, nostalgia, sharp satire, cynical noir, and much more. If you are only familiar with the "Broadway" stories, you owe it to yourself to give a peek to Runyon's other works as well.

Happy reading!

{{{ MY 1000th POST!!! yippee!}}}


EDIT: I have just uploaded version 2, with some text corrections, and added Primer and Glossary generously provided by an “anonymous scribe” from MobileRead.
Previous downloads: 148

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[Notjohn]

“I have a prejudice against people who print things in a foreign language and add no translation. When I am the reader, and the author considers me able to do the translating myself, he pays me quite a nice compliment – but if he would do the translating for me I would try to get along without the compliment.”

In the Penguin translations of À la recherche du temps perdu, the American edition translates any direct quotations (from French writers, usually) and puts the original in a note at the back of the book. The British edition gives us the quotation in the original language (French, almost always) and puts the TRANSLATION in a note at the back of the book. I often wondered why the British editors thought I could read Mellarme or Racine in the original, given that I had chosen to read Proust in translation.

[litemotif]

Thanks for the Runyon collection, and congratulations on "1000".

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Notjohn

In the Penguin translations of À la recherche du temps perdu, the American edition translates any direct quotations (from French writers, usually) and puts the original in a note at the back of the book. The British edition gives us the quotation in the original language (French, almost always) and puts the TRANSLATION in a note at the back of the book. I often wondered why the British editors thought I could read Mellarme or Racine in the original, given that I had chosen to read Proust in translation.

Perhaps you meant to post this comment in this thread?

But I think the answer is historical in nature. There was a period when educated readers were assumed to have been taught Latin, Greek, and likely French in school, and did not need the translations in line in the test. This notion seems to have persisted in the UK well after it was abandoned here.
______
Dennis

[GrannyGrump]

I have just uploaded version 2 of the book, with some text corrections, a few layout changes, and the addition of a Primer and a Glossary for the translation of Runyonese. These were genererously provided by an “anonymous scribe” from MobileRead.

[doubleshuffle]

Missed this when it was first uploaded. Now one of those MR stories: read an article about Runyon, thought I had to check him out, had a look at MR and - voilà - here he is in a glorious GrannyGrump edition! Thank you so much!!

[GrannyGrump]

Thank you! I remember this project fondly --- spelunking through Library of Congress newspaper articles and HathiTrust magazine archives for weeks. I found a lot of stuff that is not findable anywhere else. What an adventure!

Hope you enjoy his twisty humor.

[doubleshuffle]

Yeah, I started at the beginning, and the first few have been hilarious. Thanks so much again!

[pseudonym]

I am thinking that this GrannyGrump person is an honorable citizen, as she is clearly spending much time and effort in assembling a large and formidable collection of notions by this scribe, Damon Runyon. To that end, I am offering her my sincerest thanks and favorable sentiments of the day.

[GrannyGrump]

omigosh! You speak Runyonese!!!

I am impressed, I never could learn any foreign languages.

I hope you enjoy the book. Many thanks for the chuckle.