Many people in the reading public and even those who are not readers can quote Dorothy Parker. (Possibly the most famous of her many witticisms is, "Men don't make passes at girls who wear glasses.) While Parker has often been dismissed as a clever but troubled self-promoter, she is the author of a significant body of work that includes poetry, drama, and essays. Rhonda S. Pettit's edited collection provides readers with tools for greater understanding and appreciation of Parker's important contribution to literature. The book, which includes thirteen reprinted essays, five new essays, and two student essays, will be of interest to scholars, students, and the discriminating general reader. Pettis has provided a fine introduction to the collection, which is divided into four sections: Modernist Contexts, Feminist Issues, Classroom Encounters, and Conversations.
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