Hello Everyone!
Welcome to my first true blog post. Its current purpose is to spend the semester analyzing the life and works of the infamous writer Dorothy Parker. I first heard of Dorothy Parker because she has a “cameo” in the stage musical “Thoroughly Modern Millie.” I was in that show and I because curious about who she was. My mother told me that she was a 20’s writer known for her wit. I knew I wanted to learn about her when I saw her on the list of authors I could write about this semester. I am looking forward to the challenge of digging deeper in to her works.
The following information I found about her is from her Wikipedia page. Which can be found here.
Dorothy Parker was born on August 22, 1893 in New Jersey. She had an unhappy childhood. Her mother died when she was a young child and her father remarried a woman she despised and she claimed that he was abusive. She went to Catholic School until she was kicked out because of her fiery personality. Her formal education ended when she was thirteen years old and she worked as a piano player at a dancing school and started writing.
Her career got a break in 1914 when she had one of her poems published in Vanity Fair and shortly afterward got a job writing for Vogue. Parker then moved on and worked for Vanity Fair reviewing plays. She and several of her contemporaries created the Algonquin Round Table. They met for lunch every day and discussed various topics and several of them published the conversations they had. Parker then gained a reputation as a wit.
Parker is most famous for her short stories most of which discuss the downfalls of romance and the possible release of suicide. I found a copy of her short stories called Laments for the Living. I have not gotten far into it, but the first two I read are full of snappy dialogue and dark undertones. Along with her short stories she is known for her poetry. During her most productive period she had around 300 poems published in various magazines of the day.
Dorothy Parker‘s personal life was difficult. She was married three times, twice to the same man. All of her marriages were mostly unhappy. She had numerous affairs and aborted a pregnancy that resulted because of one. (OK guys.1920’s abortions? That pretty scary) She suffered from alcoholism and survived several suicide attempts.
Another interesting fact about Dorothy Parker is that she was a very liberal person. She was put on the Hollywood blacklist and the Red Channels claimed that she as a communist in 1950. On a lighter note she left her money to the Martin Luther King Foundation and after King’s death the money went to the NAACP.
This article has given me a lot of insight into Dorothy Parker. I will be writing a review and analysis of some of her short stories next week. Any questions or comments?
Great info on Parker's life, Rachel. I think you've chosen the perfect text, and I'm looking forward to reading your reactions to it. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteI took a Women in the US class, so we mentioned her somewhat when we were talking about the women's rights movement. I don't remember if we read any of her work, but we definitely mentioned her writing in relation to suicide. SO it's nice to learn more about her (or refresh my memory) and to see that you're interested in reading more.
ReplyDeleteThis was a great first post. Albeit, I didn't quite like the fact that she had numerous unhappy moments in her life, but still a great first post nonetheless. I've read some stuff by her before, and from what I've read, I liked. I'm pretty sure you will too.
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