The Tunnel of Love

The Tunnel of Love is a novel by American author Peter De Vries; it was published on May 12, 1954, by Little, Brown and Company. The novel is written in first-person narration from the viewpoint of a magazine art editor. He tells the story of his neighbors in fictional Avalon, Connecticut, a cartoonist named Augie Poole and his wife Isolde, and their efforts to adopt a child, using the narrator and his wife Audrey as references. However, the majority of interactions and dialogue concern the narrator, often as internal musings, and entire chapters go by without a mention of Augie or Isolde. The story spans roughly three years in the life of these two couples, including a look ahead prologue at the beginning. The novel was constructed adapting five short stories published several years earlier in The New Yorker. These formed the basis for chapters 6, 11, 13, 15, and 17 in the 1st edition. The novel was a sleeper hit, gradually building up readership over the summer of 1954 until it started appearing on bestseller lists. While there is some mild situational and character-based comedy, the main source of humor for the novel is in wordplay; the author De Vries was a connoisseur of punning. Despite some situations where it might be expected, there are no double entendres of a sexual nature in the novel. There is some Walter Mitty style daydreaming by the narrator, not of heroic action but of delivered witticisms. Characters Only characters with significant presence and dialogue are listed. Major The Narrator is Art Editor for weekly The Townsman and neighbor to the Pooles. He daydreams of romantic liaisons at a fantasy hideaway called Moot Point, Maine. His surname is never mentioned. In one of his fantasies a paramour calls him "Bruce" while at the end of the book he is referred to as "Dick". There are no other references to his first name. His background is parallel to author De Vries: born in the midwest, attended Northwestern University, a magazine editor with four children. Audrey is the narrator's wife and mother to their four children. Her birth name was Aurora. She and the narrator quarrel frequently but not seriously, and she is the only character in the book to tolerate his puns. Augie Poole is a cartoonist who cannot draw well but has splendid ideas for gags. He is stubborn, plays the horses, and is a serial cheater, telling the narrator that Cornelia Bly is his tenth affair since marrying Isolde Brown.