The Poetry and Short Stories of Dorothy Parker

by Dorothy Parker

A collection of stories and poems by the noted American humorist

Genres: Poetry, Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, Humor, Literary Fiction, Literature

457 pages, Hardcover

First published August 30, 1994

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.

Dorothy Parker was an American writer, poet and critic best known for her caustic wit, wisecracks, and sharp eye for 20th century urban foibles. From a conflicted and unhappy childhood, Parker rose to acclaim, both for her literary output in such venues as The New Yorker and as a founding member of the Algonquin Round Table. Following the breakup of the circle, Parker traveled to Hollywood to pursue screenwriting. Her successes there, including two Academy Award nominations, were curtailed as her involvement in left-wing politics led to a place on the Hollywood blacklist.
Dismissive of her own talents, she deplored her reputation as a "wisecracker." Nevertheless, her literary output and reputation for her sharp wit have endured.

Reviews

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not a big fan of poetry in general--with a few exceptions to that. Dorothy Parker is number one on that list. Not concerned with social etiquette at the time, she spoke her mind, and her writings clearly exhibit this trait. A prime example on her take of relationships:
SOCIAL NOTE
"Lady, lady, should you meet
One whose ways are all discreet,
One who murmurs that his wife
Is the lodestar of his life,
One who keeps assuring you
That he never was untrue,
Never loved another one . . .
Lady, lady, better run!"

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Poetry and Short Stories of Dorothy Parker

In youth, it was a way I had
To do my best to please
And change, with every passing lad,
To suit his theories

But now I know the things I know,
And do the things I do;
And if you do not like me so,
To hell, my love, with you!

’Indian Summer’ from Enough Rope

Parker was famous for her sardonic wit and as one of the members of the Algonquin round table. Over her lifetime she wrote more material than I had realized.

I liked those Parker poems and stories that are rich with detail but most of her poetry feels quite dated.

Notably Parker wrote a lot about relationships in her short stories. Having been through failed marriages of her own she was keenly aware of the proclivities of the unfaithful.

Here were the poems and short stories that I enjoyed the most.

1. Braggart

This poem features beauty in personification haranguing an older lady. One of my favorite poems

2. Hearthside

While sitting by the fire, a lament to a wanderer’s spirit and all the places that she will never see.


Short Stories

1. Mr. Durant

A middle aged man at an ad agency hires a young unmarried stenographer. The two soon have an affair and with come big problems. A story ahead of its time, reminiscent of John Cheever’s writing.

2. Clothe the Naked

A story steeped with empathy about distinct class differences in New York City. A destitute maid tries to raise her blind grandchild despite her meager earnings.

3. Big Blonde

Parker’s most famous short story and my favorite as well. A woman named Hazel for whom men ‘wag their heads roguishly’ is living and enjoying life in NYC throughout the Roaring ‘20s. By the time she is ready to settle down she is thirty but still has many offers of marriage. She settles on Herbie who seems nice and she is more than happy to stay at home. Turns out Herbie is not a great catch and despite her best efforts the marriage quickly sours. Herbie leaves her and takes a job in Chicago. She soon begins long bouts with depression and goes back to work and dating again but can’t shake the hopeless feeling . This fictional story predates Marilyn Monroe but the arc feels eerily similar to Marilyn’s life story.


3.5 stars. There is good material in this collection but a lot of average fare to sift through.

[Zweegas · Rating 5 out of 5]

The poetry is not only clever and brilliant, it's genius. This is the best poetry in the English language.

All of the short stories are good and several of the short stories achieve greatness. Big Blonde and Glory In The Daytime are a couple of my personal favorites upon first read-through. All of the short stories have some thread of classism connecting them, followed by the themes of gender and relationships and a little bit of racism thrown in for good measure. Sometimes the themes and the satirical way they're presented seems a little heavy-handed -- Horsie and Clothe The Naked, etc. -- which is not that they aren't good, but they can induce cringing. On the surface, it's not blood and guts and war and sex but these are difficult topics nevertheless. The underlying violence is subverted with humor. Ultimately, I don't consider Dorothy Parker's work to be humorous. Clever yes, funny no.

I don't know if the themes relate to the fundamental human condition or if Dorothy Parker and I are just kindred mordant souls, but I relate to the whole book as if I had written it all myself (if I were a literary genius, that is). I know I've said that I didn't believe in such a thing as literary genius, but Dorothy Parker has changed my mind.

[B. Graves · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really love her writing. It's hard and strong and cynical at a time when women really weren't any of those things.

[Marcie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read this book cover to cover, over and over. I carry it or a version with me at most times. I've passed on copies to those who wish to understand me. Mrs. Parker wrote with the wit that could cut through the most pretentious of subjects. Her musings inspire me as well as comfort me. I am nothing like the author in my writing style. I could only aspire to be. It makes me happy to know that she existed and wrote a few words to prove it.
Rest your soul, you beautiful woman.

[Jenniffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dorothy Parker is one of the most overlooked, underated writers of her era. It is so sad that when I mention her name to someone 9 times out of 10 they only recognize "Men rarely make passes at girls who wear glasses." To reduce a writer of such wit, poetry and great dialogue to one or two sarcastic quotes is truly sad.

[Jonathan Rice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dorothy Parker is brilliant.

[Duckie · Rating 2 out of 5]

A few sparkling turns of phrase won't disguise the fact that this is a compendium of works about people being generally horrible to each other. Even considering that Parker has a distinctive voice and that this approach was unusual for women authors of the time -- still, you know, there it is.

[Rebecca]

She is undoubtedly an excellent writer and her characterizations are brilliant in their brevity and wealth of information conveyed. Unfortunately she is not the author for me because her poems are nearly all on the subject of depression or love and all her characters are unsympathetic.

[Renetta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dorothy Parker is my favorite poet. She was dark and lonely and we've all been there. I would have loved to have sat, just one night, with the Algonquin Round Table. I have always had an appreciation for wordplay and clever wit. When they asked her to use the word horticulture in a sentence she immediately replied, "You can lead a 'whore to culture' but you can't make her think." I read somewhere that she's never made a spelling error or a mistake in sentence structure. I wouldn't want to know how many I've made in this short review!

Résumé

Razors pain you,
Rivers are damp,
Acids stain you,
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren't lawful,
Nooses give,
Gas smells awful.
You might as well live.

Symptom Recital

I do not like my state of mind;
I'm bitter, querulous, unkind.
I hate my legs, I hate my hands,
I do not yearn for lovelier lands.
I dread the dawn's recurrent light;
I hate to go to bed at night.
I snoot at simple, earnest folk.
I cannot take the gentlest joke.
I find no peace in paint or type.
My world is but a lot of tripe.
I'm disillusioned, empty-breasted.
For what I think, I'd be arrested.
I am not sick, I am not well.
My quondam dreams are shot to hell.
My soul is crushed, my spirit sore;
I do not like me any more.
I cavil, quarrel, grumble, grouse.
I ponder on the narrow house.
I shudder at the thought of men,
I'm due to fall in love again.

[Fei Fei · Rating 5 out of 5]

Changed my life as a teenager.


I Know I Have Been Happiest

I know I have been happiest by your side
But what’s done is done, an all’s to be
And small the good of lingering dolefully
Gaily it lived, and gallantly it died
I will not make you songs of hearts denied
And you, being man, would have no tears of me
And should I offer you fidelity
You’d be, I think, a little terrified

Yet this need of woman, this her curse
To range her little gifts, and give, and give
Because the throb of giving’s sweet to bear
To you, who never begged me vows nor verse
My gift shall be my absence, while I live;
After that, my dear, I cannot swear.

Dorothy Parker

[Tricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I adore her as a literary figure, and know that her writing doesn't quite live up to her image. I liked the explanation of her limitations in the movie (Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle), basically that she never got over her mother's death and it created a mental and creative block that she could never quite overcome. Makes sense. She herself is a loveably tragic figure, and her poems inspired me to write a decent poem in high school, and goddammit, she helped found the New Yorker, in all its pretentious bliss, so god bless.

[Crystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not a big fan of poetry, so the first half of the book didn't appeal to me much. And they got to be a bit repetitive. But, she has a unique style and was able to really make me experience what she was trying to portray. As for the stories, they were interesting in a social commentary sort of way. She had a few favorite themes that the stories seemed to revolve around, which also got a bit repetitive. Overall, though, I really admire her for writing the way she did and saying the things she said - very unusual for a woman in the 1930s.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for any young lady finding her way in the world.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re-read of one of my favorites as a teen. Still amazing.

[Kristi Hovington · Rating 5 out of 5]

"three be the things I shall never attain: envy, content, and sufficient champagne." I love this woman.

[Rose Irene Acosta · Rating 5 out of 5]

On my nightstand

[Judi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Witty, wry, great dialog writer. Among my favorite stories are "A Telephone Call", "Big Blonde" and "The Custard Heart".

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't mind
That her poems rhyme.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

More like 6 or 7 stars. To those for whom Dorothy Parker’s reputation proceeds itself, there’s an expectation of wit and tragedy and laughing at dark things, and of course there’s lots and lots of that (and it’s amazing). But having not read her stories in some time, the equally notable aspect (and one that’s aged really, really well) is her hatred for injustice and outrage toward those who’d inflict it. There are black characters fending off microaggressions (“Arrangement in Black and White”), there are intelligent gay characters trying to help out their friends (“Glory in the Daytime”), empathy toward a young woman who wants to get an abortion (“Mr. Durant”), empathy towards those who struggle with alcoholism (“Big Blonde” tragically, “You Were Perfectly Fine” mirthfully), and a whole lot of satirizing rich idiots (“The Custard Heart,” notably, and how about this description from “Little Curtis”: “She gave him her nickel with the manner of one presenting a park to a city.”). I remembered the monologues and soliloquies as all being a little long, but perhaps age has given me more insight into these, because I found “Sentiment” heart-wrenching (“...When it ends, only those places where you have known sorrow are kindly toward you. If you revisit scenes of your happiness, your heart must burst of its agony.”) and “The Little Hours” hilarious, and all of them left me wanting more. There’s no one like Dorothy Parker, and no reader who shouldn’t give her work a try.

[Allan MacDonell · Rating 5 out of 5]

The content of the Dorothy Parker anthology The Poetry and Short Stories of Dorothy Parker is divided roughly in half. The first portion [spoiler] collects three what might have been called slim and were certainly toned volumes of Parker’s poetry. Most of these verses rhyme out the eternal disappointments of women who bone cads. If you judge the lyrics of Lou Reed as pretty great, you may recognize that Dorothy Parker’s wry poetic laments are a step up from Reed’s trenchant odes. The Poetry and Short Stories of Dorothy Parker ends after an onslaught of short fiction that sees the existential dread of any smoky French consumptive and raises it to perfect tragicomedy. Nowhere else is depth and weight so deftly disguised as enjoyment light and superficial. Read it and don’t weep.

[Anne GlenSherrill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be a very interesting read. Her poetry is at times so very sad; I could easily see myself inviting her to my house, fixing her a hot toddy and softly patting her shoulder while murmuring, “There, there…there,there”. At other times offering her beer and onion rings while shrieking with laughter, “Get in here girl, take a load off your feet and heart”. The short stories were vivid scenes of people I didn’t want to be or meet.

[Victoria Orlando · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very witty and sad. About what I expected. I should not have been surprised how catty women can be, but not especially from that Era. Time has empowered women today to switch which bad behavior to act out. I would still recommend as a period piece.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like the poetry more than the stories, but both are great.

[Annette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sparkling cider, sparkling wit, sparkling Parker - this is a fun and fresh despite when it was written.

[Ali Cherek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Second only to Oscar Wilde among the smartass literati. I adore her.

[Margaret Sefton · Rating 5 out of 5]

The ultimate dame. As a woman, if you can't relate to her words, give yourself a few years. When you are adequately aged, you will say amen.

[Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

she is so real

[Vlada G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did not like the poems except for one (Temps Perdu), but the short stories were masterful.

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

As funny and exciting as watching paint dry.