Dorothy Parker

Dorothy Parker was a revered poet, author, and reviewer in the early 20th century in America.

She was one of the members of the Algonquin Round Table, an elite membership that clearly demonstrates her prowess with words.

Parker's most well-known work is her poetry, which was widely published in three early volumes "Enough Rope" (1926), "Sunset Gun" (1929), and "Death and Taxes" (1932). Parker was one of the first women writers to step out of traditonal gender roles in her poetry, expressing sentiments of sexuality, anger, sadness, and arrogance -- all traits that were almost entirely absent from preceeding women poets. Parker, in a nutshell, changed not only how women wrote poety, she helped change how women were allowed to think.

Pursuant to E2 Copyright Changes, permission to post Dorothy Parker's work was requested of the Baltimore, Maryland law firm that represents the interests of the NAACP. The NAACP in turn holds the rights to Dororthy Parker's estate, having received them as part of Martin Luther King Jr.'s estate. Dorothy Parker left her estate to King when she died in 1967. He died the following year.

The following is the law firm's response, received on Tuesday, 12 August 2003:

I am in receipt of your email message today to [name of laywer] regarding the posting of Dorothy Parker's works on the everything2 web site. ... We appreciate your proactive stance regarding permissions and the heads up telling us that some of your users have submitted portions of Mrs. Parker's works to be posted on your database.

The copyright holder of Dorothy Parker's works is the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). We are attorneys who assist the NAACP with the granting of permissions. It has always been the policy of the NAACP NOT to permit Mrs. Parker's works to be posted on the Internet. Additionally, the NAACP does not permit its own documents to be posted on the Internet.

Kindly remove Dorothy Parker's materials from your web site and decline to accept any new postings of such material.

We appreciate your cooperation.

Sincerely,

[Helpful person]
Paralegal
[Name of law firm]
Baltimore, MD

As such, Dorothy Parker's poetry should not be posted on E2, although original commentary about her and her work is of course welcome. Thank you for respecting the NAACP's wishes and E2's responsibilities in this matter.

- Lord Brawl
August 2003