Friday, August 20, 2010

Dorothy Parker--you should have tried the rope--it works best (okay, maybe the gun does)

Sometimes I prefer blissful ignorance. I always liked Dorothy Parker for her witty one-liners like, "Brevity is the soul of lingerie," but otherwise knew little about her. Recently, I discovered but was not surprised to find out she was a knee-jerk Lefty, and then read this short story written by her in 1927 for the New Yorker. I see that improving one's social status by sneering at people who are well-meaning but insufficiently enlightened about race has been around a long time. Parker went from being wickedly funny to disgusting--the SWPLs can have her.  
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3 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:09 PM

    She can be both wickedly funny & disgusting - the two aren't mutually exclusive.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous8:47 PM

    Have you seen the Dorothy Parker biopic? I enjoyed it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous4:05 PM

    "She can be both wickedly funny & disgusting - the two aren't mutually exclusive."

    But she's not funny. Yeah I know to high school English teachers everywhere she's the apotheosis of wit...because THEIR English teachers said so. But really she was just an unhappy, unfunny hag.

    ReplyDelete

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