Dorothy Parker (née Rothschild; August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967) was an American poet, writer, critic, and satirist based in New York; she was known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles.
From a conflicted and unhappy childhood, Parker rose to acclaim, both for her literary works published in magazines, such 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 when her involvement in left-wing politics resulted in her being placed on the Hollywood blacklist.
Dismissive of her own talents, she deplored her reputation as a “wisecracker”. Nevertheless, both her literary output and reputation for sharp wit have endured. Some of her works have been set to music.
Books in order of publication:
Short fiction
Collections
1930: Laments for the Living (includes 13 short stories)
1933: After Such Pleasures (includes 11 short stories)
1939: Here Lies: The Collected Stories of Dorothy Parker (reprints of the stories from both previous collections, plus 3 new stories)
1942: Collected Stories
1944: The Portable Dorothy Parker (reprints of the stories from the previous collections, plus 5 new stories and verse from 3 poetry books)
1995: Complete Stories (Penguin Books)
Poetry collections
1926: Enough Rope
1928: Sunset Gun
1931: Death and Taxes
1936: Collected Poems: Not So Deep as a Well
1944: Collected Poetry
1996: Not Much Fun: The Lost Poems of Dorothy Parker (UK title: The Uncollected Dorothy Parker)
2009: Not Much Fun: The Lost Poems of Dorothy Parker (2nd ed., with additional poems)
Plays
1929: Close Harmony (with Elmer Rice)
1949: The Coast of Illyria (with Ross Evans), about the murder of Mary and Charles Lamb’s mother by Mary
1953: Ladies of the Corridor (with Arnaud D’Usseau)
Screenplays
1936: Suzy (with Alan Campbell, Horace Jackson and Lenore J. Coffee; based on a novel by Herman Gorman)
1937: A Star is Born (with William A. Wellman, Robert Carson, and Alan Campbell)
1938: Sweethearts (with Alan Campbell, Laura Perelman and S.J. Perelman)
1938: Trade Winds (with Alan Campbell and Frank R. Adams; story by Tay Garnett)
1941: Week-End for Three (with Alan Campbell; story by Budd Schulberg)
1942: Saboteur (with Peter Viertel and Joan Harrison)
1947: Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman (with Frank Cavett, John Howard Lawson and Lionel Wiggam)
1949: The Fan (with Walter Reisch and Ross Evans; based on Lady Windermere’s Fan by Oscar Wilde)
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