&sq=Facebook&lang=en&file=File:The_Tunnel_of_Love.jpg) First edition cover | |
| Author | Peter De Vries |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Miriam Woods |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Comic novel |
| Publisher | Little, Brown and Company |
Publication date | May 12, 1954 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Pages | 246 |
The Tunnel of Love is a novel by American author Peter De Vries; it was published on May 12, 1954, by Little, Brown and Company.[1] The novel is written in first-person narration from the viewpoint of a magazine art editor. He tells the story of his neighbors in fictional Avalon, Connecticut, a cartoonist named Augie Poole and his wife Isolde, and their efforts to adopt a child, using the narrator and his wife Audrey as references. However, the majority of interactions and dialogue concern the narrator, often as internal musings, and entire chapters go by without a mention of Augie or Isolde. The story spans roughly three years in the life of these two couples, including a look ahead prologue at the beginning.
The novel was constructed adapting five short stories published several years earlier in The New Yorker.[2] These formed the basis for chapters 6, 11, 13, 15, and 17 in the 1st edition.[2] The novel was a sleeper hit, gradually building up readership over the summer of 1954 until it started appearing on bestseller lists.[3] While there is some mild situational and character-based comedy, the main source of humor for the novel is in wordplay; the author De Vries was a connoisseur of punning. Despite some situations where it might be expected, there are no double entendres of a sexual nature in the novel. There is some Walter Mitty style daydreaming by the narrator,[fn 1] not of heroic action but of delivered witticisms.[4]
- ^ "DeVries' New Book". The Charlotte Observer. Charlotte, North Carolina. April 18, 1954. p. 99 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b Peter De Vries (1954). The Tunnel of Love. Little, Brown and Company. p. ii.
- ^ "Inquirer Best-Seller List". Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. August 22, 1954. p. 68 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Smith, Ruth (July 11, 1954). ""Tunnel" Will Roll You Into Aisle". Orlando Sentinel. Orlando, Florida. p. 40 – via Newspapers.com.
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