archy and mehitabel

Abstract

Archy and Mehitabel are two inimitable characters — a philosophical cockroach who types out free verse correspondence by dive-bombing the keys and an insouciant feline dancer out to take life for all it is worth, ever the lady and “toujours gai.” Created by Don Marquis and popularized in the New York Sun and New York Herald-Tribune 1916–1922, their best-loved exploits and musings are captured in this marvellous collection of 48 episodes, and illustrated with 29 cartoon drawings by George Herriman. Archy sees the universe at an entirely different angle, and humanity is measured against its miniature insect reflections. We meet cats and rats, spiders and flies, toads, robins, worms, a merry flea, a dissipated hornet, a froward lady bug, plus ghosts and echoes of dramatists, poets, historical figures, and the nightly denizens of the underworlds and alleys of New York, London, and gay Paris. Humorist Don Marquis (1878–1937) was a novelist, poet, columnist, playwright, and author of more than 25 books. Cartoonist George Herriman (1880–1944) is best known as the creator of Krazy Kat.