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Peanuts Papers

I skimmed these; I found the cutesy element a bit trying.

Also, I wanted to learn about "Peanuts"; I didn't really care about critics' autobiographies. (For example, Ann Patchett doesn't tell us a great deal about Snoopy, but she does tell us a great deal about Ann Patchett. This didn't grab me.)

The Times highlighted one essay on Lucy-as-psychoanalyst--and this really is a great essay. I learned: Toward the very end of the strip, someone mistakes Lucy's business for a lemonade stand. Lucy asks: "Was the lemonade ever any good?" (This seems to be a spin on the ubiquitous question: "Does therapy every actually *do* anything?")

There's also a joke about Lucy's "advice." Charlie goes on and on about his seemingly rootless, formless anxiety. We expect some kind of thoughtful interpretation from Lucy. Instead, the "doctor" hits the nail on the head: "My thoughts? SNAP OUT OF IT! Five cents, please...." (The joke in the essay? Some schools of therapy really do suggest that "snap out of it" is a useful sentence, a gift from doctor to patient.)

Our cartoonist's constant "button"--"Five cents, please"--is a comment on a certain view of therapists. (They're interested only in making cash.)

A trip to the library--and time with "Peanuts Papers"--is worth it for this essay, and the piece by Bruce Handy (which really takes the cartoonist to task for a few actually nihilistic, even sadistic, panels) is also eye-opening. Recommended (with quibbles).
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