Collecting Robert Benchley or Which Rabbit Hole Do I Go Down First?
On the hazards of being a completist
One of the joys of reading comes with the discovery of an author like Robert Benchley- a writer who makes me laugh. It’s as if RB knew- back when he was at the height of his powers- that I, Dan Hiland, needed what he had to share. Of course, such foresight on said author’s part never existed; yet it seems possible, when I find the author’s work so relatable- writing that fills an empty place in my life; writing that my heart and mind take personally.
The “joy” I speak of is compounded upon discovery that said author was responsible for a bunch of books, promising many future hours of reading joy.
As I plow into the books I can afford to purchase- for I eschew the library in favor of ownership, believing that any book worth reading is worth owning- I find much joy, as well as some measure of disappointment, for, as is the case with any published writer, not all of this author’s work is golden. But no matter. I plow on, taking the good with the meh, the gold with the iron pyrite.
One of the hazards of discovery comes with the slowly developing realization that, due to financial limitations, I may not gain access to all of my favorite author’s work. After conducting multiple online searches, I confirm earlier suspicions that, due to the prolific nature of this writer’s work, I have no idea what all this man actually wrote.
So, given that Benchley has found my funny bone, I perform due diligence by consuming what I believe is most of his oeuvre. (I love the word “oeuvre,” for it says a lot in just five letters, as defined by the online version of Merriam-Webster as “a substantial body of work constituting the lifework of a writer, an artist, or a composer.” There. Now I won’t have to explain it again.)
I eventually discover a book that may answer all my questions about Benchley’s oeuvre (pronounced “ooh-vah). The title is “Robert Benchley: An Annotated Bibliography.”
When I find that the book is going to cost me around $60, I scoff. But I just have to know what Benchley books I’m missing out on. So I go online and order the damned thing.
Once the tome arrives and I open it, I get a sinking feeling. The book is only 290 pages long. For what I spent, I expected a doorstop. Now in grouse mode, I start leafing through the pages, hoping I wasn’t ripped off.
Compiled by Gordon E. Ernst, Jr., Assistant Professor of Libraries at Western Michigan University, Mr. Ernst confesses:
“The project first started… when I was a beginning librarian. The enormity of the project overwhelmed me and I put it aside, never believing I could finish it.”
As I look through the bibliography, and see the scope of its detailed entries, I can understand Ernst’s feelings. But he continues, repeating the words of many a researcher who, after seeing a monolith in front of him or her, nevertheless experiences an epiphany- that they’ve been called to the work: “A few years ago… I decided that my tentative research should not be in vain.” And then he utters those fateful words: “So I restarted the project.”
And what is it Gordon E. discovered? That Benchley put the “P” in “prolific.”
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To cover it all, Ernst had to break down Benchley’s output into the following sections: Books, Essays, Newspaper Writings, Dramatic Criticism, Filmography and Discography.
And I am overwhelmed by what he’s found:
- 24 books
- 626 essays
- 624 newspaper articles
- 757 works of dramatic criticism
- 97 appearances in, or contributions to, short subjects and feature films
- Discography consisting of two LP’s, thirty-five radio appearances, and eight other recordings of Benchley’s material
Along with extensive cross-referencing, the bibliography includes a seventy-page index and a publishing chronology- all of which is the result of a librarian who, driven to extremes, used all his researching skill to unearth “a large body of material which is little known.”
Given that Benchley was one of the most famous humor writers of his time, it was shocking for Ernst to discover that much of Robert B’s material published in Life and the New Yorker (as well as his newspaper writing) remains uncollected.
The deeper I dig into Ernst’s book, the more I find, the author having attached fascinating notes and informal comments to the hundreds (maybe thousands) of works cited throughout the book.
What one ends up with is more than a bibliography- it’s a penetrating look into Robert Benchley’s life, times, and works that one wouldn't have gained from a biography. (If I were Mr. Ernst, I’d be looking into publishing collections of the “uncollected” writing he’s unearthed.)
Satisfied that I finally owned the definitive guide to All Things Benchley, I was cruising around online when I came across a troubling document: a twelve-page article showing each Benchley book and its story titles. Evidently, the author pulled all of this information from Ernst’s book…
As such, I am now suffering from TMI, not to mention blurred vision- especially since one Benchley collection usually has articles found in several other publications, the array of potential rabbit holes bewildering.
I think I’ll make a checklist…
Meanwhile, if you’d like to read some of Benchley’s better work, Click here!
