The Last Days of Dorothy Parker

The Extraordinary Lives of Dorothy Parker and Lillian Hellman and How Death Can Be Hell on Friendship (A Penguin Classics Special)

Biography & Memoir, Literary, Nonfiction, History
Cover of the book The Last Days of Dorothy Parker by Marion Meade, Penguin Publishing Group
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Marion Meade ISBN: 9781101627211
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group Publication: May 27, 2014
Imprint: Penguin Classics Language: English
Author: Marion Meade
ISBN: 9781101627211
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Publication: May 27, 2014
Imprint: Penguin Classics
Language: English

Dorothy Parker biographer Marion Meade shares insight into the last days in the life of Dorothy Parker—the horrible and the hilarious—including her colorful friendship with Lillian Hellman, and the bizarre afterlife of Parker’s remains from a file cabinet on Wall Street to a small burial site by the NAACP office in Baltimore.

The Volney was a dignified residence hotel, favored by older women and their dogs, on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Dorothy Parker died there, of a heart attack, on June 7, 1967. She was seventy-three and had been famous for almost half a century. As befitted a much-loved humorist, poet, and storywriter, the New York Times announced her exit in a front-page obituary. This was followed by a star-studded memorial service, also reported in the paper, which was attended by some 150 of her friends and admirers. More than twenty years later, on October 20, 1988, Parker was buried in Baltimore, in a memorial garden at the national headquarters of the NAACP. Why did it take more than two decades for Dorothy Parker to get a decent burial? What accounts for her macabre Edgar Allan Poe–style ending, arguably one of the most ghoulish in modern literary history? And just what happened to her during those twenty-one years?

Dorothy Parker biographer Marion Meade draws from new research to portray Parker in her last years and last days, with an emphasis on her posthumous existence. The story also features Parker’s enduring friendship of over thirty years with playwright and screenwriter Lillian Hellman, along with other notable figures in Parker’s circle, including Dashiell Hammett and John O’Hara. Always riotous and occasionally ghastly, The Last Days is utterly and completely Dorothy Parker.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Dorothy Parker biographer Marion Meade shares insight into the last days in the life of Dorothy Parker—the horrible and the hilarious—including her colorful friendship with Lillian Hellman, and the bizarre afterlife of Parker’s remains from a file cabinet on Wall Street to a small burial site by the NAACP office in Baltimore.

The Volney was a dignified residence hotel, favored by older women and their dogs, on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Dorothy Parker died there, of a heart attack, on June 7, 1967. She was seventy-three and had been famous for almost half a century. As befitted a much-loved humorist, poet, and storywriter, the New York Times announced her exit in a front-page obituary. This was followed by a star-studded memorial service, also reported in the paper, which was attended by some 150 of her friends and admirers. More than twenty years later, on October 20, 1988, Parker was buried in Baltimore, in a memorial garden at the national headquarters of the NAACP. Why did it take more than two decades for Dorothy Parker to get a decent burial? What accounts for her macabre Edgar Allan Poe–style ending, arguably one of the most ghoulish in modern literary history? And just what happened to her during those twenty-one years?

Dorothy Parker biographer Marion Meade draws from new research to portray Parker in her last years and last days, with an emphasis on her posthumous existence. The story also features Parker’s enduring friendship of over thirty years with playwright and screenwriter Lillian Hellman, along with other notable figures in Parker’s circle, including Dashiell Hammett and John O’Hara. Always riotous and occasionally ghastly, The Last Days is utterly and completely Dorothy Parker.

More books from Penguin Publishing Group

Cover of the book Shot Girl by Marion Meade
Cover of the book The Secret Psychology of How We Fall in Love by Marion Meade
Cover of the book A Blessing in Disguise by Marion Meade
Cover of the book The Basics of Reiki by Marion Meade
Cover of the book Italian Hours by Marion Meade
Cover of the book Dream More by Marion Meade
Cover of the book Unexpected Blessings by Marion Meade
Cover of the book Copperhead by Marion Meade
Cover of the book Lone Star 28 by Marion Meade
Cover of the book The Angel Maker by Marion Meade
Cover of the book Immortal Outlaw by Marion Meade
Cover of the book The Man in the Rockefeller Suit by Marion Meade
Cover of the book Valiant Ambition by Marion Meade
Cover of the book No Farm, No Foul by Marion Meade
Cover of the book Take Yourself to the Top by Marion Meade
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy