Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents v
3. Acknowledgments vii
4. Introduction 1
5. 1. “How to tell the diff erence between a Matisse painting and a Spanish omelette”: Dorothy Parker, Vogue, and Vanity Fair 27
6. 2. “Brains are really everything”: Anita Loos’s Gentlemen Prefer Blondes 55
7. 3. “A plumber’s idea of Cleopatra”: Mae West as Author 76
8. 4. “Astronomers located her in the latitude of Prince Edward Island”: L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, and Early Hollywood 100
9. 5. “The best product of this century”: Margaret Kennedy’s The Constant Nymph 124
10. 6. “Literature or just sheer fl apdoodle?”: Stella Gibbons’s Cold Comfort Farm 152
11. 7. “Wildest hopes exceeded”: E. M. Delafi eld’s Diary of a Provincial Lady 179
12. Conclusion 207
13. Notes 213
14. Bibliography 233
15. Index 251