Dorothy Parker

Dorothy Parker was interviewed in the summer of 1956 by Marion Capron of The Paris Review. The famed Algonquin Round Table wit spoke about her writing career and her process, shared her opinions on other writers, and discussed the difference between humor and satire.

“I don’t want to be classed as a humorist,” Parker said. “It makes me feel guilty. I’ve never read a good tough quotable female humorist, and I never was one myself. I couldn’t do it. A ‘smartcracker’ they called me, and that makes me sick and unhappy. There’s a hell of a distance between wisecracking and wit. Wit has truth in it; wisecracking is simply calisthenics with words.”

To learn more about Dorothy Parker, read her profile on findingDulcinea.