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"Wasn't the Yale Prom wonderful? If all the girls in attendance were laid end to end, I wouldn't be at all surprised." —Dorothy Parker. This quote, taken from Dorothy herself, can be found on the back of Marion Meade's 1989 biography Dorothy Parker: What Fresh Hell Is This? Without actually knowing anything about the title subject, this specific quote does a good job, all on its own, of presenting a perfect introduction to the kind of person Dorothy Parker was. A wit matched by very few in her time, a woman capable of speaking her own mind, and someone who wasn't concerned if a few people were offended along the way. It certainly does a better job than the poem most often attached to her name. The "News Item," a short poem on the male species inability to find an attraction to women who wear glasses, reveals little. Making it easy to see why Dorothy herself would later denounce the poem as "A terrible thing." She knew, better than anyone else, that there was more to her than two lines of throwaway whimsy. But while that quote, the one found on the back of the book, stands as the perfect introduction, it's important to realize that's it only that. An introduction. A closer look, and a little bit more than a single quote, will reveal Dorothy Parker as an exceptional figure, in a time and place full of them. A woman who spent her entire life struggling with unhappiness, two failed marriages, a string of purposely damaging relationships, numerous suicide attempts, and a relentless, open obsession with destroying herself from the inside out. Marion Meade's book, What Fresh Hell Is This? brings all this and more to the table, in an effort to present not only a definitive portrait of Dorothy Parker, but of the decade that made her famous. The book can almost be considered a rarity within a rarity. A biography that not only approaches its title subject with almost surreal honesty, but approaches the heavily misconstrued decade of the 1920's with the caution and genuine interest of a historian. An entirely different approach than that of typical writer interested in only going after the parts of a story which will appeal to our sense of romance. Make no mistake though, this isn't a book that presents a life story and simply leaves it at that. With a number of fiction works under her belt, the author has little trouble in applying a strong, casual narrative to the life of Dorothy Parker. In many places, it's not at all difficult to imagine the book is a work of fiction, based solely on the way it's written. However, even with this sort of style, this is still, at heart, a biography meant to inform. And it is to that end that Marion Meade finds her greatest success. Exhaustively researched, the book does not, at any point, move quickly through any specific period in Dorothy Parker's life. Everything, from her childhood, to her so-called glory days at the Algonquin Round Table, to her self-imposed exile in the early 1960's is given a similar treatment. A treatment that includes, but is not limited to, a careful attention to details, first hand accounts by Dorothy herself and the people who knew her, and Meade's own combination of straight forward reporting and the smooth narrative mentioned before. There is not a single page in this biography that may cause the reader to doubt a sincere fascination and respect for the subject. And in this case, this fascination and respect does not keep Meade from including Dorothy's less than admirable personality traits, or the moments in her life that fail to match up to her reputation of a never tiring party girl with the razor sharp tongue. For example, her love/hate relationship with second husband Alan Campbell, which quite often saw her dole out hideous, uncalled for verbal abuse is given extensive attention. The same goes for the equally conflicting relationship she had with her writing. Unlike many of her contemporaries, who were more concerned with impressing the elite few, Dorothy Parker desperately wanted to be taken seriously as a writer, and it was her hope, at many times throughout her life, that she would write a novel. Such an effort though, had a habit of being halted at every turn, by not only her notorious laziness and disdain of deadlines, but through her commitment to drinking and having, from an outward appearance at least, a really good time. It is within these passages, and many others, that Marion Meade presents herself as a biographer who is not about to gloss over any of the details. The book is still not without its fault. Even with her obvious commitment to impartiality, Marion Meade can't help but show a little bias here and there. Anyone who considers themselves a fan of Lillian Hellman or Ernest Hemmingway would probably do well to skip the passages mentioning them, as Meade makes little effort to hide her own personal dislike for these two. But even in moments such as these, all of the critical passages in question are based in some degree of fact, whether it's Hellman's well-documented jealousy of Dorothy or the cruel poetry Hemmingway wrote for Dorothy on two known occasions. Also, those interested in a pictorial history of the 20's may find themselves disappointed, even though the book contains nearly thirty photos from Dorothy's youth, including one from 1906, to one taken near her death in 1967. This is a literary account of Dorothy Parker's life, and anyone looking for a picture-by-picture take on her will need to look elsewhere. And it's important to keep in mind that these complaints are only minor and on the whole, hardly detract from the overall feel of the book. Which is, of course, that as far as a biography and retrospective of a time long past us goes, you're going to have a hard time finding anything better. The cheap, cliched thing to say would be that What Fresh Hell Is This? takes us back to this ancient era in grand style, and makes us feel as though we are really there. And though it's certain that Dorothy herself wouldn't approve of such a line, it's really the best way to sum up this endlessly readable, continuously fascinating book. And even if she wouldn't conclude a review this way, Dorothy would probably be quite pleased at the way Marion Meade has handled her life. Both of them clearly deal in the flawless mix of style and honesty. 
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