Leo Simpson consistently builds upon what has traditionally been one of the enduring strengths of the short story as a form: its capacity to capture and bring into sharp focus crucial junctures that radically alter the course of life. Whatever their scope or tone, all such moments are "comic" in that they reflect the human imperative to adapt to the environment. Simpson's stories, particularly "The Ferris Wheel," "Where Does a Giant Gorilla Sleep," "The Ivy Covered Manner," "The Lady and the Travelling Salesman," and "The Savages," in his collection The Lady and the Travelling Salesman, demonstrate these junctures through collisions between fantasy and reality and through dramatic rhetoric which develops the synechdochal potential of these moments. His use of satire, hyperbole and oxymoron allows the reader to witness characters pushed to surreal extremes and violently juxtaposes a hilarious medium with profoundly ethical messages.
