SOURCE: Johnson, Ken. “Dorothy Parker's Perpetual Motion.” In American Women Short Story Writers: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Julie Brown, pp. 251-65. New York: Garland, 1995.

In the following essay, Johnson surveys the critical reaction to Parker's oeuvre and examines her unique use of repetition in her work.

Somehow it has always been rather easy to dismiss Dorothy Parker and her writing from the collective literary consciousness. After all, she never produced a “big” work such as a novel, and her few plays did not achieve long runs. In addition, she shares the ironic fate of most writers who become identified primarily as humorists working with shorter literary forms: they are not considered “serious.” Parker's many celebrated, flip wisecracks (e.g., “One more drink and I'll be under the host.”) brought her the kind of notoriety that rarely carves a secure niche for itself in the Westminster...