The Portable Dorothy Parker

Before purchasing this, I owned the Modern Library edition, "The Poetry and Short Stories of Dorothy Parker." Having laid hands on this Viking Portable, I sold off the other and now prize this. Though it comes in softcovers, there's a more bountiful selection of Parker from a broader range of her works, especially among the best of her "Constant Reader" reviews for "The New Yorker." If you love Parker, you're sure to appreciate this collection. If you haven't had the pleasure of meeting her, I know of no better introduction.

I picked up this book because I have been reading other books that have quoted her. These quotes are often very funny. "This book should not be put down lightly," she said. "It should be thrown against the wall." Add to this that she was a member of that famous or infamous roundtable at the Algonquin, and I thought her stories and reviews would be a riot. I was surprised that in the cover portrait of her she seemed so sad. When I began to read some of the poems and stories, it was obvious that the cover photograph was appropriate. I now see her as a terribly lonely person who thought about death too much. Her acerbic wit seems to be camouflage. The fact that I was surprised by what I found in this collection of her writing doesn't mean that I thought it was bad. Because Dorothy Parker was different from what I expected, doesn't mean she was worse than I expected--just different.

I actually owned this book for a VERY long time but sadly lost it in a fire. I was overjoyed to find it here because (1) I missed it (2) I would like my daughter to read it.So this book is one that I kept all thru college, multiple moves over several states and when I lost it in a fire, I replaced it. I think that says a lot about this book.

I was expecting humor, needing a laugh. But many of her stories are depressing. One, which has the narrator waiting by the phone for a boyfriend to call, was annoying. But her reviews are witty, and I should know that comedy masks pain. I'll continue reading her enjoyable prose. I just wish she'd lighten up sometimes.

It's not enough to say that Dorothy Parker was great, or that she was brilliant. It's hard to see from a distance her colossal impact on the literary world. When you buy this book (and you WILL buy it; these aren't the droids you're looking for) immediately read some of the very earliest stories. They are of WWI vintage or so. If you remember high school literature, short stories written just before Parker put pen to paper were the somewhat longer "chapter of a novel" type, of Guy de Maupassant, or W. Somerset Maugham. Dorothy Parker virtually invented the "slice of life" short story, which she brought to the New Yorker. This style became the standard of the fledgling magazine, popular with the public, and without a doubt helped get the magazine off the ground.This style is still the pervasive one today.Short stories were not all Mrs. Parker wrote. She wrote play reviews, and as Constant Reader book reviews. She could dismiss a play with "House Beautiful is Play Lousy," or take down her least favored AA Milne with "Tonstant Weader frowed up." She once spent the better part of a review complaining about her hang-over. She kept New Yorker readers coming back week after week, laugh junkies after a fix. And so she changed the voice of the reviewer as well. Previously, the reviewer voice had been detached and quite dry, rattling off obligatory lines about the costumes, the sets, the leading actor, the leading actress-- as predictable as the label on a shampoo bottle. The wonderful Libby Gelman-Waxner is her direct descendent. Pauline Kael is a niece, although she might have bristled at the suggestion. Andrew Harris and Elvis Mitchell can thank Mrs. Parker for their unfettered freedom.The best thing about reading this collection is discovering the sheer joy Mrs. Parker took in writing. She was good and she knew it.She once said, in reviewing the unfortunate book Debonair, that the curse of a satirist is that "she writes superbly of the things she hates," but when she tries to write of things she likes, "the result is appalling." Personally, I find Parker moving and eloquent in her reviews of the Journal of Katherine Mansfield, and Isadora Duncan's posthumously published autobiography, two books that touched and impressed her, but it is true that her distinctive voice croons most seductively when she doesn't like something. Unfortunately, one is left with the impression that she didn't like much other than gin, Seconal and dogs, but I don't think that's true. If she were as unhappy as is commonly believed, she would have escalated her suicidal behavior, and not have lived to the age of 74. She would not have had the passion to march for the acquittal of Sacco and Venzetti, to travel to Spain during the country's civil war, to volunteer as a war correspondent during WWII, and to join in voice and body the civil rights movement in her last decade.I think disdain rather than anger is a better word for what she felt towards the targets of her wit-- and it is true that sometimes a retrospective view of her own behavior was the target, but the ability to laugh at oneself is the sign of, well, if not mental health, at least a well-rounded emotional self.And by the way, since Parker had no heirs, she left her estate, including future earnings from her work, to Dr. Martin Luther King jr., and when he sadly died the year after she did, he passed on the right to profit from the Parker works to the NAACP, so for every copy of this book sold, the author's cut profits the NAACP.

The book arrived quickly, and it was in great condition -- no highlights or notes on it, and other than showing just a bit of age, it was almost like new. It helps that I love Parker's poetry...

Could I love Dorothy Parker any more?? Her stories have given me so much to think about and chew on. I first read this almost 2 decades ago, and the stories still resonate with me. I reread and learn even more from them. I could live without the poetry, but the other stuff is incredible. You get a snapshot of what life was like from 1919-1950's (different stories showcase different eras) but more importantly there are lessons and themes that resonate just as much today. They are unchanging. Dorothy, I would have loved to be your pal.

The book was in wonderful condition and I highly recommend the seller. They have never disappointed me.

Very prompt delivery, book as described. Contents best NOT read on gloomy dreich day, though you can hopscotch between the less sad extracts to find flashes of the famous wit. But as far as seller was concerned, thank you, this is 100% what I ordered.

I've always enjoyed the poems of Dorothy Parker so thought I'd try out this book to see what the rest of her writing was like. I am only half way through at the moment. The stories are pretty good and some of the characters' behaviour translates easily to modern day relationships. Worth a read if you like short stories as well.

she is a writter who deserves to be read by akll generations

A woman in a man's world who I found to be more talented than the more famous personalities around her . When one looks past her failings with alcohol , she was a very interesting person whose genius was deceptively simple looking , like a great actor who doesn't seem to be acting at all ,she often found the essential truths about the persons or things she wrote about ,On finishing this book , my overwhelming emotion was sadness that that she didn't quite fit into her world , as result I think of her being exposed to so many self centered and egotistical people and institutions which could not appreciate the rare person they faced . .

Perhaps Dorothy Parker's writings were brilliant read in isolation from each other, but I was disappointed after building up high expectations from the legend of witty Dorothy Parker. The short stories, in particular, I had to abandon as they were unrelentingly depressing and reflected the worst aspects of human character. Sadly a book for a different age - not ours.