Dere Mable

Description

Edward Streeter may be best known for his 1949 novel Father of the Bride, but what established him as a great humorous writer was his column in the magazine Gas Attack, where he published his Dere Mable letters.

Dere Mable is a series of humorous letters written by fictional soldier, Bill, an illiterate young man, to his girlfriend during World War I. Inspired by the writer’s own experiences as a soldier – he had been camped near Spartansburg SC – the stories recount the events the young man has been through and the things he sees in a funny, often very critical and satiric way. The spelling error in the title is a clue to his lack of education, lack that is marvelously compensated with common sense and wit. It is actually this common sense that helps Bill endure the harsh living circumstances at the army base as he is waiting to be deployed in France and helps him cope with and tell about his perplexities and sense of absurdity.

The Dere Mable letters were published in series between 1917 and 1919, and then they were compiled into a book and published in the form of a collection in 1919. The book was a huge success and it prompted Streeter to continue writing, though he was a banker by profession. He worked as a vice president for a bank for more than 25 years, period during which he published articles and short stories in the Saturday Evening Post and other newspapers and magazines. He also published novels, including his well-known satires Father of the Bride, Mr. Hobb’s Vacation, Merry Christmas, Mr. Baxter, Chairman of the Bored and numerous others. Several of his novels have been adapted to film during the 1950’s and 1960’s and many of his books were listed as best-sellers and included in the prestigious list of best-selling novels of The New York Times.
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