Anecdote (W3)

Fadiman, Clifton
The Little, Brown Book of Anecdotes

A book compiled of anecdotes from other collections, arranged under the name of the person they’re about.

Gross, John (Edit.)
The New Oxford Book of Literary Anecdotes

A unique and vastly entertaining collection of over 700 anecdotes from Chaucer to J. K. Rowling, selected by the supreme man of letters and premier anthologist, John Gross

The anecdotalists include some of the best-known recorders of conversation, such as John Aubrey and James Boswell, but in addition there are gems from little-known memoirists and biographers, from interviews and broadcasts, and from writers on writers e.g. Conan Doyle on Oscar Wilde, P. G. Wodehouse on H. G. Wells

As well as anecdotes about writers, subjects also include historians, statesmen, philosophers, academics, and theologians

Arranged chronologically by date of birth of the subject of the anecdote, the anthology is also a wonderfully engaging informal history of writing and publishing down the centuries

Many of the anecdotes offer revealing insights into writers' personalities, their frailties and insecurities: they are by turn poignant, and hilariously funny. Includes brief commentary by John Gross where necessary to explain context, and an introduction discussing the history and nature of the anecdote as a literary form