[XTB]∎ Read The Portable Dorothy Parker Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition Dorothy Parker Marion Meade 9780143039532 Books

The Portable Dorothy Parker Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition Dorothy Parker Marion Meade 9780143039532 Books

Download As PDF : The Portable Dorothy Parker Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition Dorothy Parker Marion Meade 9780143039532 Books

The Portable Dorothy Parker Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition Dorothy Parker Marion Meade 9780143039532 Books

When I bought this book I had, to be honest, no idea what I was getting into; what I knew of Dorothy Parker were a few witticisms and one poem (the [in]famous "Résumé"). I had a vague idea that she was a book reviewer who had devastated A.A. Milne's _House at Pooh Corner_ in four words.

I had no idea that she wrote short stories, for example, let alone such good ones as "Big Blonde" and "The Game;" nor that she was a dramatic critic par excellence. And the _Portable_, twice expanded to its current stately 613 trade-sized pages, is a huge dollop of all that and more. Her three collections of light verse are all contained herein in, as near as I can tell, their entirety, along with a few dozen short stories, articles, letters, an interview for the _Paris Review_, and the proverbial More.

Parker was an archetypal crying clown, a humorous writer whose humor stemmed from pain. Hers was not, in general, a happy life, nor a stunningly successful financially; she was quite honest about the financial need that kept her at the typewriter.

A mistress of the devastating one-liner, she could also sum up a subject's good points and flaws in an amusing, balanced way.

Her short stories, to my surprise, are not generally humorous at all. They are mostly studies of character, and while she treats them with irony, she never makes them into buffoons or mocks them - no, not even the heroine of "Arrangement in Black and White," who makes such a point of her lack of race prejudice that her race prejudice leaks all over the place. ("I haven't any feeling at all about it," she says, in a way that prefigures our current-day bigots who claim to be color-blind.)

Then there are these ... things ... that aren't stories at all, so much as meditations or streams (puddles, really) of consciousness. Some of them are quite good, and none are bad, but I have no idea what they _are_.

Some of the book is amusing, some moving, some puzzling: what none of it is is _boring_.


Tags : The Portable Dorothy Parker (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) [Dorothy Parker, Marion Meade] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <b>The second revision in sixty years, this sublime collection ranges over the verse, stories, essays,Dorothy Parker, Marion Meade,The Portable Dorothy Parker (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition),Penguin Classics,0143039539,POE005010,American - General,American literature - 20th century,American wit and humor,Short stories,AMERICAN POETRY,Anthologies (non-poetry),FICTION Classics,FICTION Humorous General,GENERAL,General Adult,LITERARY COLLECTIONS American General,Literary CriticismAmerican - General,Literature - Classics Criticism,Non-Fiction,POETRY American General,Poetry,ReadingsAnthologiesCollected Works,SHORT STORY,United States,penguin classics; penguin classics series; satire; wit; women authors; women writers; algonquin round table; american literature; classic american literature; journalism; essays; poetry; poems; american poetry; anthology; short stories; humor; 20th century; modernism; correspondence; essay collection; american women; criticism; literary criticism; new york; classics; classic literature; literary fiction; classic books; funny books; humorous books; funny gifts; fiction; fiction books; humor books; long story short,penguin classics;penguin classics series;satire;wit;women authors;women writers;algonquin round table;american literature;journalism;essays;poetry;poems;american poetry;anthology;short stories;humor;20th century;modernism;correspondence;essay collection;american women;criticism;literary criticism;new york;classics;classic literature;penguin classic deluxe edition;penguin classics deluxe;penguin classics deluxe edition;penguin deluxe classics;classic;literary fiction;classic books;comedy,FICTION Classics,FICTION Humorous General,LITERARY COLLECTIONS American General,Literary CriticismAmerican - General,POETRY American General,Literature - Classics Criticism,American Poetry,Short Story,Poetry,Anthologies (non-poetry)

The Portable Dorothy Parker Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition Dorothy Parker Marion Meade 9780143039532 Books Reviews

Fabulous book. Great edition! Really cool to have the modern illustrations with her very original works. This is a good collection of writings of Madame Parker. Men rarely make passes at girls who wear glasses! Lots of fun. This copy was in really good condition.
I have read works of Dorothy Parker for many years. I keep loaning out copies of this book and somehow, they often seem to not come back. It is a time in history, and a time in the lives of women. I visit the Algonquin Hotel in New York City every time I am there
and think about the people from the New Yorker who apparently used to have long lunches there.

I love it - it is funny, whimsical and entertaining
When my box of books and DVDs arrived, I ripped it open just to get this book. Dorothy Parker, for the uninitiated, was the original flapper comedian/writer. I love her humorous poems and stories. This is a very complete collection, and contains biographical material also. If you have never read Dorothy Parker's works, or you wonder how a group of male writers in the 1920s and 30s accepted her as an equal, you must buy this collection. Many of her quotations will be familiar to all of you!
I'm delighted that Mrs. Parker is still in print. I have the old Viking Portable (a gift from a friend some years back), and needed to acquire a copy for a friend who had not read Dorothy Parker's works before. I may need to purchase this edition for myself; I read part of the introduction, which is updated from the earlier edition. The more time goes by, the more appreciation there appears to be for this amazing woman's intelligence and wit. The ragged page edges are somewhat annoying, especially for a book like this that I, at least, like to thumb through, but I've seen this treatment in other books so it appears to be the latest fad in publishing circles. I hope they get over it soon. My favorite poems are Resume, Frustration, and Inventory. The short story The Telephone is a timeless testament to impatience. I have a visit with Mrs. Parker several times a year, just randomly flipping through the book to read stories, poems, and her reviews.
Amazing gift of writing internal dialogue, soliloquy, and short stories in dialogue. From her short stories, the most outstanding, I believe, are the following The Waltz, The Lovely Leave, The Sexes, From the Diary of a New York Lady, Clothe the Naked, and Such a Pretty Little Picture but not Big Blonde. The latter reminds me of Darling by Chekhov, sort of an American version. The characters depicted in her short stories speak for themselves. Her sharp eye, witty tongue, and tidy mind ridicule farce, hypocrisy, our weaknesses and our flaws, but cause us to sympathize with those in pain and need. In her poetry, Dorothy Parker speaks from her loving heart to the heart of another woman under condition the reader does have a heart. Especially recommended to the short story writers.
Dorthy Parker is a classic author, critic & comedic wit. That being said this is really a very nice volume with heavy paper covers & a good binding. Portable is perhaps not the best term as this is still a fairly hefty volume, but you will in no way be disappointed by the presentation or contents here. Recommended.
Oh, if only Dorothy Parker were alive today! Her wit and uncanny ability to puncture pretentious prose and oratory might make these dark times a bit brighter. Consider her comment on the death of Calvin Coolidge - “How could they tell?” - and imagine her finding laughable irony in today’s silliness. She was both of her time and relevant to the present and her writing so spot on that she stripped her targets of cant and pomposity and revealed them as the shams they were. This is an excellent compilation for not only what she said and wrote but also who she was. And she was something rare; not because of her gender but because she had such a clear-eyed view of the world around her in a time women were having to struggle to be heard even more than remains the case today.
When I bought this book I had, to be honest, no idea what I was getting into; what I knew of Dorothy Parker were a few witticisms and one poem (the [in]famous "Résumé"). I had a vague idea that she was a book reviewer who had devastated A.A. Milne's _House at Pooh Corner_ in four words.

I had no idea that she wrote short stories, for example, let alone such good ones as "Big Blonde" and "The Game;" nor that she was a dramatic critic par excellence. And the _Portable_, twice expanded to its current stately 613 trade-sized pages, is a huge dollop of all that and more. Her three collections of light verse are all contained herein in, as near as I can tell, their entirety, along with a few dozen short stories, articles, letters, an interview for the _Paris Review_, and the proverbial More.

Parker was an archetypal crying clown, a humorous writer whose humor stemmed from pain. Hers was not, in general, a happy life, nor a stunningly successful financially; she was quite honest about the financial need that kept her at the typewriter.

A mistress of the devastating one-liner, she could also sum up a subject's good points and flaws in an amusing, balanced way.

Her short stories, to my surprise, are not generally humorous at all. They are mostly studies of character, and while she treats them with irony, she never makes them into buffoons or mocks them - no, not even the heroine of "Arrangement in Black and White," who makes such a point of her lack of race prejudice that her race prejudice leaks all over the place. ("I haven't any feeling at all about it," she says, in a way that prefigures our current-day bigots who claim to be color-blind.)

Then there are these ... things ... that aren't stories at all, so much as meditations or streams (puddles, really) of consciousness. Some of them are quite good, and none are bad, but I have no idea what they _are_.

Some of the book is amusing, some moving, some puzzling what none of it is is _boring_.