''Getting Even'' (1971) is

Woody Allen Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...

's first collection of humorous stories, essays, and one short play. Most pieces were first published in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' between 1966 and 1971.

# The Metterling Lists # A Look at Organized Crime # The Schmeed Memoirs # My Philosophy # Yes, But Can the Steam Engine Do This? # Death Knocks # Spring Bulletin # Hassidic Tales # The Gossage-Vardebedian Papers # Notes from the Overfed # A Twenties Memory # Count Dracula # A Little Louder, Please # Conversations with Helmholtz # Viva Vargas! # The Discovery and Use of the Fake Ink Blot # Mr. Big

Some of the tales in detail

*"Mr. Big" is a parody of the style and structure of hardboiled detective stories. The protagonist, Kaiser Lupowitz, is a parody of the characters which were typically played by

Humphrey Bogart Humphrey DeForest Bogart (; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American film and stage actor. His performances in Classical Hollywood cinema films made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film In ...

on film:

Dashiell Hammett Samuel Dashiell Hammett (; May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade ('' ...

Sam Spade Sam Spade is a fictional character and the protagonist of Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel '' The Maltese Falcon''. Spade also appeared in four lesser-known short stories by Hammett. ''The Maltese Falcon'', first published as a serial in the pulp ...

in '' The Maltese Falcon'', Mickey Spillane's

Mike Hammer Michael Hammer or Mike Hammer may refer to: *Michael Armand Hammer (1955–2022), American philanthropist and businessman *Michael Martin Hammer (1948–2008), engineer and author *Mike Hammer (character), a fictional hard boiled detective ** ''Mick ...

and

Raymond Chandler Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive durin ...

Philip Marlowe Philip Marlowe () is a fictional character created by Raymond Chandler, who was characteristic of the hardboiled crime fiction genre. The hardboiled crime fiction genre originated in the 1920s, notably in ''Black Mask'' magazine, in which Dashiel ...

. Kaiser smokes Lucky Strike like Sam Spade, and is also used by Allen in another hard boiled parody, ''The Whore of Mensa'' (1974), collected in ''

Without Feathers ''Without Feathers'' (1975, ) is one of Woody Allen's best-known books, spending four months on the ''New York Times'' Best Seller List. It is a collection of essays and two one-act plays, ''Death'' and ''God''. Title meaning The title ''Without ...

'' (1975). *The philosophical arguments of "My Philosophy" will be later used in the films '' Bananas'' and '' Love and Death''. *The play "Death Knocks" is a direct parody of

Ingmar Bergman Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film director, screenwriter, Film producer, producer and playwright. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time, his films are known ...

's 1957 '' The Seventh Seal''.Richard Alan Schwartz (2000
''Woody, from Antz to Zelig: a reference guide to Woody Allen's creative work, 1964-1998''
p.38 *"The Schmeed Memoirs" heavily parodies

Felix Kersten Eduard Alexander Felix Kersten (30 September 1898 – 16 April 1960) was the personal physical therapist of Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler. He also became a confidant and adviser to him and used his contacts with Himmler to help people persecut ...

Notes and references

External links

Woody Allen's bibliography
{{Woody Allen 1971 books Comedy books Random House books Short story collections by Woody Allen

Contents

Some of the tales in detail

Notes and references

External links