‘Makes an excellent case for Parrott as an unjustly forgotten historical figure.’—The New Yorker
‘Remind[s] us of the brazenly talented women sidelined by convention.’—New York Times
The riveting biography of Ursula Parrott—best-selling author, Hollywood screenwriter, and voice for the modern woman.
Credited with popularizing the label ‘ex-wife’ in 1929, Ursula Parrott wrote provocatively about divorcées, career women, single mothers, work-life balance, and a host of new challenges facing modern women. Her best sellers, Hollywood film deals, marriages and divorces, and run-ins with the law made her a household name. Part biography, part cultural history,
Becoming the Ex-Wife establishes Parrott’s rightful place in twentieth-century American culture, uncovering her neglected work and keen insights into American women’s lives during a period of immense social change.
Although she was frequently dismissed as a ‘woman’s writer, ‘ reading Parrott’s writing today makes it clear that she was a trenchant philosopher of modernity—her work was prescient, anticipating issues not widely raised until decades after her decline into obscurity. With elegant wit and a deft command of the archive, Marsha Gordon tells a timely story about the life of a woman on the front lines of a culture war that is still raging today.
Mục lục
List of Illustrations
A Note on Name Usage
Introduction: ‘Maxims in the Copybook of Modernism’
1 • The Limited Life of a Dorchester Girl
2 • At Radcliffe: ‘A Pushy Lace-Curtain Irish Girl from Dorchester’
3 • First Husband, Lindesay Parrott: ‘Strange Moments of Tenderness and Pretty Constant Dislike’
4 • Modern Parenting
5 • Greenwich Village: The Path to Becoming a ‘Self-Sufficient, Independent, Successful Manager of Her Own Life’
6 • Hugh O’Connor: High Felicity on the ‘Road of No Rules’
7 • New Freedoms in the ‘Era of the One-Night Stand’: The Ex-Wife Is Born
8 • Ursula Goes to Hollywood
9 • Second Husband, Charles Greenwood: ‘The Stupidest Thing I Ever Did in My Life’
10 • ‘Extravagant Hell’
11 • The Business of Being a Writer
12 • Third Husband, John Wildberg: The Faint Resemblance of Stability
13 • ‘The Monotony and Weariness of Living’
14 • Fourth Husband, Alfred Coster Schermerhorn: ‘Two Catastrophes Should Be Enough’
15 • Saving Private Bryan: The United States vs. Ursula Parrott
16 • Her ‘Breaks Went Bad’
17 • ‘Black Coffee, Scotch, and Excitement’
Afterword: Remembering a ‘Leftover Lady’
Acknowledgments
Chronology
Notes
Published Writings of Ursula Parrott
Bibliography
Index
Giới thiệu về tác giả
Marsha Gordon is Professor of Film Studies at North Carolina State University, a former Fellow at the National Humanities Center, and the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar award. She is the author of numerous books and articles and codirector of several short documentaries.
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