BOOK & TONY
‘She honed her humor to its most economical size.’ Dorothy Parker’s writing, though apparently effortless, wasn’t so. She was meticulous, slicing away until there was no fat. But this sparsity and wit meant she was often dismissed as trite. At parties ‘fresh, young gents’ would demand she say something ‘funny and nasty’ like a performing seal, but her shyness with strangers rendered her mute. Critics denigrated her poetry as ‘flapper verse’; 30 years of work in The New Yorker, as opposed to some little literary magazine, only confirmed her as unworthy of the status afforded to some of her contemporaries. She was as critical of herself as her critics were of her – ‘Wisecracking is simply calisthenics with words’ whereas ‘Wit has truth in it.’ Her obituary gave her the acclaim she was due, quoting her ‘bright black authenticity’. It’s these characteristics that attracted Tony to her work, and prompted him to buy a signed copy of her first volume of poetry, ‘Enough Rope’. He identifies with her conviction, her acute wit, the economy of her work, it’s beauty and it’s utility – conveying feelings with understated power.
Subscribe to RSS
Follow us on Twitter