Mere Anarchy by Woody Allen

Woody Allen the director makes concessions to modernity. He casts Will Ferrell, has (finally) stopped casting himself as the romantic lead, and seems to have moved beyond the New York of the 1970s. Woody Allen the writer, not so much. Sure, he makes the occasional reference to the internet, or comments on modern food insanity. But for the most part, his prose is pretty much the same it's been since the 60s. Not many contemporary writers could get away with using slang that was first heard in Brooklyn delis in 1956.

In his latest collection, Mere Anarchy, the Woodman does pretty much the same thing he did in Without Feathers and Getting Even--which is to say, he writes a lot of short pieces with hyperactive premises and even speedier language. None of them here captured my heart quite like "The Whore of Mensa" did, but the book was highly readable. It was actually kinda comforting in its familiarity. I was tempted to tag Woody an Endangered Author, merely because of his age and the unevenness of his last five years' worth of films, but he's not really making a last-ditch attempt at anything. He's keepin' it real--1967 or 2007. In fact, I'm not even sure if he was parodying himself, or if he's just perfected the conceit of overwriting on purpose. I guess he's just Woody being Woody.

More importantly, style issues aside, the book is simply entertaining. For every tired borscht belt joke that my eyes slipped over, I found two or three things that made me chuckle out loud on the subway. Some favorite parts:

"To sum up: apart from my own Beyond Good and Evil Flapjacks and Will to Power Salad Dressing, of the truly great recipes that have changed Western ideas Hegel's Chicken Pot Pie was one of the first to employ leftovers with meaningful political implications. Spinoza's Stir-Fried Shrimp and Vegetables can be enjoyed by atheists and agnostics alike, while a little-known recipe of Hobbes's for Barbecued Baby Back Ribs remains an intellectual conundrum. The great thing about the Nietzsche Diet is that once the pounds are shed they stay off--which is not the case with Kant's 'Tractatus on Starches.'"

"Donald lived at Mr. Eisner's home for six months when he and Daisy Duck were separated. Donald had been having an affair with Petunia Pig, Porky Pig's girlfriend. It was a no-no at Disney to socialize with creatures from a competing studio, but in Donald's case Mr. Eisner chose to look the other way, which upset the shareholders."