Selected Readings from the Portable Dorothy Parker

Parker, Dorothy

ISBN 10: 0786161876 ISBN 13: 9780786161874

Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks, 2007

Synopsis

When it comes to expressing the pleasure and pain of being just a touch too smart to be happy, Dorothy Parker is still the champion, after all these years. Along with Robert Benchley, Alexander Woollcott, and the rest of the Algonquin Round Table, she dominated American popular literature in the 1920s and 1930s.

These unabridged selections of more than thirty short stories and poems is essential for any Parker fan and an excellent way for new readers to make the acquaintance of one of the twentieth century's most quotable authors, whose memorable lines include: "She runs the gamut of emotions from A to B," "This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force," and "Men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses."

About this title

About the Author:

Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) is a literary legend famed for her poetry, short stories, criticism, screenplays, and dramas. She was a founding writer of the New Yorker and also wrote for Vogue, Vanity Fair, and Esquire. A key member of the New York literary circle, the Algonquin Round Table, she was widely known as the wittiest woman in America. Not so well known are her political beliefs: she helped unionize Hollywood screenwriters, joined the Communist Party, and worked on behalf of various left-wing causes. In the 1950s, she was blacklisted in Hollywood. Her estate was bequeathed to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. She is buried in Baltimore, at the headquarters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which became her literary executor following Dr. King's assassination. Today, four decades after her death, Dorothy Parker remains one of the most quoted writers in the world.

Marion Meade is the author of Dorothy Parker: What Fresh Hell Is This? She has also written biographies of Woody Allen, Buster Keaton, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Madame Blavatsky, and Victoria Woodhull, as well as two novels about medieval France. She lives in New York City.

Lorna Raver, named one of AudioFile magazine's Best Voices of the Year, has received numerous Audie nominations and AudioFile Earphones Awards. An experienced stage actress, she has also guest-starred on many top television series and starred in director Sam Raimi's film Drag Me to Hell. Among her many Blackstone titles are The Age of Innocence, Up from Orchard Street, The Lodger, Selected Readings from the Portable Dorothy Parker, and Diamond Ruby.

From AudioFile:

If ever a book cried out for audio, this is it. Dorothy Parker, one of the wittiest women of the twentieth century, decimated the hypocrisies of her time with the razor-sharp, prolific (if not always pithy) selections of verse, short stories, criticism, song lyrics, and screenplays. Lorna Raver provides the voice, at once snappish and elegant, that quipped about a Katharine Hepburn performance, "She runs the gamut of emotions from A to B." After an introduction to Dorothy Parker's world, Raver treats listeners to a compilation of her writings, performed with Parker's "magnificent disregard" for recklessness. The collection, graced by Raver's luminous reading, makes for wonderful listening. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0786161876
• ISBN 13: 9780786161874
• Binding: Audio CD
• Editor: Meade Marion