Apropos of a Great Deal

Woody Allen’s engaging autobiography, Apropos of Nothing, has been one of my respites from COVID-19-related reading. After finishing the Kindle version, I prolonged the pleasure by downloading it on Audible, and have thus been treated to the 84-year-old Woody animatedly reading his own book, with his signature New York accent. While the book gets its title from the author’s conviction about “the meaninglessness of existence,” Apropos of Nothing turns out to be apropos of a great deal.

Woody Allen made his mark as an artist in three ways that have mattered to me: as a stand-up comedian with a unique voice; as an author of more than 50 humor pieces that bear comparison with Twain, Thurber, and his own idol, S.J. Perlman; and as a prolific auteur filmmaker, with many failures, but with a fair number of successes.