Dorothy Parker

1893 - 1967 *

Playwright, poetess remembered for her wit.

Dorothy Parker is remembered for her wit. Wit can be put to any number of uses - for her, it was peculiarly functional. She was a member of a circle (a Round Table, in fact, which would convne sporadically at the Algoquin Hotel in New York) whose members made a living from their wits. The cheques for Parker's came first from Vogue, then from Vanity Fair, where, often under pseudonym of Constant Reader, she became renowned for her damning reviews of plays and books - Sinclair Lewis, in particular, came in for brutal drubbings.
But money was not the only object. She had to survive mentally as well. She was the only woman of this circle (Edna Ferber would pop in, but even she was too gushy for Parker) and was often stigamtised for wanting to be a man. She later confessed that if the age had demanded cuteness, she would have been cute. But she was the harshest of them all. It is hard to smile at a Parker quip without simultaneously pitying its victim.
Ultimately Parker has a strong claim on our sympathies. Even in her comic verse (which she refused to call poems), she addresses the issue of suicide and the fallibility of relationships. The latter theme came to characterise her short stories. If the public manifestation of failed romances and a disturbed childhood was well-worded impatience, their private expressions were worse amorous entanglements , alcoholism, drug abuse and several suicide attempts. She survived these, too, but remained constantly aware that some things are not proper subjects for humour.

          Source: Classics Network Editorial Team

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Miscellaneous

		Big Blonde -- Website for the stage adaptation of Dorothy Parker's short story. http://www.sacredfools.org/DarkNights/03... Editorial Rating: Number of Visitors: 59 1 users have rated it an average of 4 stars     [rate it]

     

Truth never yet fell dead in the streets; it has such affinity with the soul of man, the seed however broadcast will catch somewhere and produce its hundredfold. -- A Discourse of Matters Pertaining to Religion.

Theodore Parker

Truth stood on one side and Ease on the other; it has often been so. -- A Discourse of Matters Pertaining to Religion.

Theodore Parker

Man never falls so low that he can see nothing higher than himself. -- Essay. A Lesson for the Day.

Theodore Parker

A democracy,--that is a government of all the people, by all the people, for all the people;of course, a government of the principles of eternal justice, the unchanging law of God; for shortness' sake I will call it the idea of Freedom. -- The American Idea: Speech at N. E. Anti-Slavery Convention, Boston, May 29, 1850.

Theodore Parker

All men desire to be immortal. -- A Sermon on the Immortal Life. Sept. 20, 1846.

Theodore Parker

Additional searches

Parker at Encarta Encyclopedia

Parker at Britannica Encyclopedia

Parker at Xrefer.com