Ed Park's 'Personal Days' hailed as a comic

Writer James Folta has declared Ed Park's debut novel, Personal Days, to be one of his favorite comic novels of all time. In an article for Literary Hub, Folta launches a series on the 'Funny Novel Canon' with this recommendation.

Folta, who co-wrote a McSweeney's piece with Park and admits he is not unbiased, describes Park as a great and genuinely creative writer. He notes Park's later works, like the Pulitzer Prize finalist Same Bed Different Dreams and the recent Three Tenses, are complex and ambitious. Yet, Folta argues some of Park's funniest writing is found in his first novel.

The Office as a Comic Stage

Personal Days follows a group of office workers in a mysterious Manhattan company with unclear goals. According to Folta, the employees are not consumed by work but by gossip, crushes, and confusion about their coworkers and superiors. The plot involves a central mystery about the company, but Folta states the book is memorable primarily for being extremely funny.

Park is going for jokes, Folta writes. The novel is full of wordplay, dry observations, and weird specifics that never feel forced. Coworkers spin up absurd theories about each other. This office setting, described as the most fertile breeding ground for speculation, allows Park's absurdities to bend plausibility without breaking it.

The Mechanics of the Humor

The wordplay in Personal Days is especially well done, Folta asserts. He says Park's funny turns of phrase and memorable names get laughs while working at a deeper level. Homonyms and mishearings are folded into the plot, which turns at several instances on wordplay and puns.

Like all funny writers, Park is attentive to form. Folta explains that Park uses headers and other formal shifts to insert little jokes and control pacing. The book takes a big turn in its last section using what Folta calls a really fun, formal constraint, resulting in a wonderful combination of sitcom and Oulipo.

A Uniquely Literary Comedy

What Folta loves most about the novel is that it is funny in ways that only writing can be. He contends that too many humorous novels mimic film and TV, relying on writing that feels like screen transcriptions. Park takes a different route, relying on jokes and situations that can only happen on the page. This, Folta concludes, makes Personal Days a very special novel.

James Folta is a writer and the managing editor of Points in Case. He co-writes the weekly Newsletter of Humorous Writing.