Books like Best Short Stories of Ring Lardner

[Random Read. 33, Stories.]Twenty-five of sportswriter-turned-satirist Ring Lardener's best stories, including "Alibi Ike," "Haircut," "Horseshoes," "The Love Nest," and others. Jimmy Breslin's blurb on the front of this edition hails these stories as "the work of a stupendous genius... only good for another century or so," and unfortunately I think that's actually pretty accurate. While there are some gems here, like "Alibi Ike," "There Are Smiles" (about a traffic cop smitten with a lovely speed-demon of a driver) and "Who Dealt?" even the best of these stories palls with repetition and a dated delivery. The stories simply aren't made for a modern sensibility. The twist in "Haircut," for example, is seen coming for a good while and provides no additional payoff. It's funny how the work of Mark Twain and Shakespeare can be so universal and modern, while work of some other eras can seem somehow frozen in time. Mostly, my reaction to the incidents and dialogue in these stories was one of bemusement. And while I'm no expert of the era, I am someone who knows a flivver from flapper, The Thin Man from The 39 Steps. Even so, I often was at a loss as to whether we, the readers, are meant to interpret something as poignant, ironic, or funny. If a character calls poet Robert Service highbrow, is that meant as a commentary on that character's taste or lack of it, or is it a joke? Likewise, when a character repeats something corny and calls it "simply a scream," is it meant to be a comment on their lack of sophistication? Probably, but it's not always clear. If a character recites a lot of corny jokes, like the caddy does when the women play in "A Caddy's Diary," were these jokes once fresh and droll and meant to be delivered as such, or are they meant to show that the caddy is a lunkhead? That's not to mention all the bridge and golf and baseball play-by-plays, nor the references to characters and things long forgotten such as Amos Alonzo Stagg. In all, while I admire the craft at work in these stories, to me they're simply too much of their era to be wholeheartedly enjoyed today.