★★★★★ Neither Bloody Nor Bowed

Enough Rope

Dorothy Parker

The paperback Dover Thrift edition of Dorothy Parker's Enough Rope begins with a brief unsigned biographical note. I was surprised to learn that Parker dropped out of school at fourteen. Nevertheless, at 22 she was on the editorial board of the newly founded New Yorker. She published poems and stories in such magazines as The New Yorker, Life, and Vanity Fair. In her times these were the highest peaks of literary periodicals. Her poetry was published in three books: Enough Rope, Sunset Gun: Poems, and Death and Taxes.

The New York Times dismissed Enough Rope as "flapper verse". When I read that, I shouted in my head, "What the Hell is wrong with you? Can't you read?" But silent shouting at long-dead literary critics is like popping bubble wrap -- it soothes the soul, but accomplishes little of use.

If you know nothing else about Parker, you probably know that she's famous for being funny. The Times somewhat made up for the "flapper verse" remark by publishing a scintillating obituary, which you can find at the Dorothy Parker Society's web site. Indeed, some of the poems in Enough Rope made me laugh out loud.

What you need to know, though, is that although Parker could be funny, her comedy comes from a very dark place. Here, for instance is "Rainy Night"

Ghosts of all my lovely sins,
Who attend too well my pillow,
Gay the wanton rain begins;
Hide the limp and tearful willow,

Turn aside your eyes and ears,
Trail away your robes of sorrow.
You shall have my further years,—
You shall walk with me to-morrow.

I am sister to the rain;
Fey and sudden and unholy,
Petulant at the windowpane,
Quickly lost, remembered slowly

"Flapper verse", my ass! From the Times obituary

She had her own definition of humor, and it demanded lonely, perfectionist writing to make the truly funny seem casual and uncontrived.

“Humor to me, Heaven help me, takes in many things,” she said. “There must be courage; there must be no awe. There must be criticism, for humor, to my mind, is encapsulated in criticism. There must be a disciplined eye and wild mind. There must be a magnificent disregard for your reader, for if he cannot follow you, there is nothing you can do about it.”

She was One of the Greats!

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