Here, in his first collection since his three hilarious classics Getting Even , Without Feathers , and Side Effects , Woody Allen has managed to write a book that not only answers the most profound questions of human existence but is also the perfect size to place under any short table leg to prevent wobbling.

In hysterical flights of inspirational sanity we are introduced to a cast of characters only Allen could imagine: Jasper Nutmeat, Flanders Mealworm, and the independent film mogul E. Coli Biggs, just to name a few. Whether he is writing about art, sex, food, or crime, he is explosively funny. In “This Nib for Hire,” a Hollywood bigwig comes across an author’s book in a little country store and describes it in a way that aptly captures this magnificent volume: “Actually,” the producer says, “I’d never seen a book remaindered in the kindling section before.”

Praise for Mere Anarchy :

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

“The stories in Mere Anarchy deliver the same joys and foibles that have been with its author from the start.”

–Janet Maslin, The New York Times

“Uproarious . . . In each story the ornate and the vulgate slam together and make it rain polysyllabic absurdity.”

–The Wall Street Journal

“Nostalgically enjoyable . . . The stories in Mere Anarchy deliver the same joys and foibles that have been with its author from the start.”

–The New York Times

“Brilliant neurotica . . . unfailingly entertaining . . . [an] obsessive and seriously funny book.”

–Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Like the Carnegie’s one-pound sandwiches, Allen’s literary slapstick is . . . comedy on wry.”

–USA Today