Women I Wish I Could've Been Friends With - Dorothy Parker Edition

Now this is a girl I could've sat down at a glossy, dark bar and had an Old Fashioned with. If I drank those. If they even had those.

Dorothy Parker was one of the most quick-witted, sardonic, and poignant writers of her time. She sat at the boy's club as one of the founding members of the Algonquin Round Table and wrote for the likes of The New Yorker and Vanity Fair. After being nominated for two Academy Awards, she was booted out of Hollywood for her progressive views on subjects such as social equality and civil rights.

There was an irreverance to her work that made her seem like someone I could vent to or laugh with over our mutual miseries. She was writing things, saying things that her female contemporaries weren't brave enough to attempt and often laid out her failed attempts at love in proverbial neon. It wasn't because she was brave. It was because she was authentic and fearless. Her being a woman was never used as a crutch or a liability and that's why she was seen as a peer among the literary crowd of the 1920's and 30's - a scene all but dominated by men.

That's my kinda role model. And I wish she'd shown up in more of my Lit books in school.

And some of my personal favorite Parkerisms:

By the time you swear you're his,
Shivering and sighing.
And he vows his passion is,
Infinite, undying.
Lady make note of this --
One of you is lying.” 

“I like to have a martini,
Two at the very most.
After three I'm under the table,
after four I'm under my host.” 

“Tell him I was too fucking busy-- or vice versa.” 

“They sicken of the calm who know the storm.”

“That would be a good thing for them to cut on my tombstone: Wherever she went, including here, it was against her better judgment.” 

“This wasn't just plain terrible, this was fancy terrible. This was terrible with raisins in it.” 

“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.” 

“If you wear a short enough skirt, the party will come to you.” 

“It serves me right for putting all my eggs in one bastard.” 

“A little bad taste is like a nice dash of paprika.” 

“His voice was as intimate as the rustle of sheets.” 


Do yourself a favor and read up. Happy Wednesday!
xo.

Sources for today's post: GoodReads, Google Images, weheartit