Dorothy Parker . American short story writer, playwright , theatre critic, humorist , screenwriter and poet. Best known for her caustic wit, her sarcasm and her sharp pen when it came to capturing the dark side of urban life in the 20th century.
Biographical summary
Childhood
Dorothy Rothschild was born in Long Branch, New Jersey on August 22, 1893. Also known as Dot or Dottie, her real name was Dorothy Rothschild, daughter of Jacob Henry and Eliza Annie Rothschild. It just so happened that she was born on a day when the family was enjoying their vacation in New Jersey , but she considered herself a true New Yorker. She grew up on the Upper West Side, attending the Blessed Sacrament Convent School , despite the fact that her father was Jewish and her stepmother was Protestant. Her formal education ended when she was 13.
Suicide attempt
Dorothy Parker attempted suicide on at least two occasions. She married actor Alan Campbell in 1934. The couple moved to Hollywood, where Parker wrote the screenplay for William A. Wellman’s film A Star is Born ( 1937 ).
Artistic career
By 1913 she had lost her entire family and from then on had to earn a living by playing the piano at a dance school, among other jobs. She managed to sell a poem to Vanity Fair magazine in 1914. A year later she was hired as an editorial assistant by Vogue, an American magazine dedicated to fashion and lifestyle.
She married Wall Street broker Edwin Pond Parker II, but they separated at the outbreak of World War I. She continued to work for both magazines. She had mixed feelings about her Jewishness and often joked that she married only to change her last name.
Her career took off in 1919, when she was a theatre critic for Vanity Fair magazine. She was fired in 1920 , however, and began working as a freelance writer. After separating from her husband, she had several affairs with other men. When the New Yorker newspaper was founded in 1925 , she joined the staff. At that time she wrote humorous poetry, although she later abandoned that aspect.
Literary career
The next 15 years were his most productive. He published seven volumes of short stories and poetry. Critics said they amounted to an encapsulated biography. The bulk of Parker’s work was his short stories. Although often humorous, they were spare and poignant, and had a bittersweet rather than comic undertone. His friends found in them a source of joy and sadness at the same time.
Her best-known story appeared in Bookman Magazine under the title Big Blonde , and was awarded the prestigious O. Henry Prize for Outstanding Short Story of 1929. This story, among other masterpieces of the genre, was selected by Augusto Monterroso for his famous Anthology of Sad Stories.
Political career
During the 1930s, the left-leaning author was very active in politics, helping to found the Anti-Nazi League in Hollywood . She was investigated by the FBI on suspicion of membership in the Communist Party, and was placed on the Hollywood Blacklist. From 1957 to 1962 she wrote for Esquire magazine, albeit somewhat erratically, due to her problems with alcohol .
Death
She died of a heart attack in 1967 , at the age of 73, in New York . Her ashes rest at the National Association for the Development of Negro People, under the epitaph: “Excuse My Dust.” Dorothy Parker had been little known in the Spanish language, until the publication of her complete narrative by Editorial Lumen, of Barcelona .
Construction site
- Enough Rope( 1926 )
- Sunset Gun( 1927 )
- Close Harmony( 1929 ) (theatre)
- Laments for the Living( 1930 )
- Death and Taxes( 1931 )
- After Such Pleasures( 1933 )
- Collected Poems: Not So Deep As A Well( 1936 )
- Here Lies( 1939 )
- The Portable Dorothy Parker( 1944 )
- The Ladies of the Corridor( 1953 ) (theatre)
- Constant Reader( 1970 )
- A Month of Saturdays( 1971 )
- Not Much Fun: The Lost Poems of Dorothy Parker( 1996 )