Lardner, Ring (1885-1933), was an American journalist who achieved fame as the author of satirical short stories. Lardner wrote his best stories in the language of lower middle-class Americans. The language included grammatical errors, misspellings, and the comical misuse of words. Many of the stories are told by a semiliterate narrator. Lardner’s style exposes the lack of culture, inadequate self-knowledge, and selfishness of his characters. At the same time, his best stories are minor masterpieces of humor. Lardner produced three volumes of skillful stories out of the 19 books he wrote. The collections are How to Write Short Stories (with Samples) (1924), The Love Nest (1926), and Round Up (1929).
Lardner was born into a wealthy, cultured family on March 6, 1885, in Niles, Michigan. His full name was Ringgold Wilmer Lardner. He began his career as a reporter at the South Bend (Indiana) Times from 1905 to 1907. He then held several jobs at newspapers in Boston, Chicago, and St. Louis, leading up to his writing a highly regarded column called “In the Wake of the News” for the Chicago Tribune from 1913 to 1919. His syndicated column called “Weekly Letter” (1920-1927) was carried by about 150 newspapers. Lardner established his literary fame with the publication in 1916 of You Know Me, Al, a collection of comic letters by a fictional major league pitcher. Many of his stories deal with professional athletes.
In 1919, Lardner moved with his wife and four sons to New York City. Two of his sons, John and Ring, Jr., became noted writers. In New York City, Lardner helped write two plays, Elmer the Great (1928) with George M. Cohan and the Broadway hit June Moon (1929) with George S. Kaufman. Lardner also contributed sketches and song lyrics to several musicals. In 2013, the Library of America published an extensive collection of Lardner’s work as Ring Lardner: Stories & Other Writings. He died on Sept. 25, 1933.
