Life, 1921-08-18 · page 27 of 35
Life — August 18, 1921 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical piece mocks upper-middle-class women's pretentious but shallow reading habits. The two women discuss books they haven't read or disliked ("Alice Adams," "Main Street"), dismiss serious literature as "too real," and favor sentimental romances by Kathleen Norris and Zane Grey. They confuse authors, judge books by social status rather than merit, and primarily want books that "end happily" or serve as bridge-party prizes. Parker's title—"The Illiterati"—is a play on "literati" (the educated). The satire targets women who claim cultural refinement while actually avoiding challenging literature. The illustration and accompanying cartoon caption ("I'd rather be scolded by a husband than a chaperon") reinforce the era's gender assumptions about women's limited intellectual autonomy. The piece reflects 1920s anxieties about women's reading and education during a period of increasing female independence.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
August 18 REALLY must get caught up on my reading. What with getting the slip cov- ers on the chairs, and putting up the blueber- ries, and all, it doesn’t seem as if I'd ever get around to it. What would be a good book for me to—” “Well, they said this ‘Alice Adams’ was so good, but I read it and I didn’t like it at all, Common, that’s what I call it. All about a middle family and—” “Oh, I shouldn't care for anything like Now what I like, I like something about refined people. I love Kathleen Norris's books. They’re awfully cute, and yet they’re strong, too. And they end happily. I can’t see why they » much fuss about these books that that. alway make s\ | ‘t, either. Look at that ‘Main vet’ there was all this talk about. I just thought to myself, I'd like to have words with the author of that some time. I'd tell him a few Those people in that book were a better than she ever—” uldn’t even finish that thing. Who wants to read about a lot of small-town anyway? I wish Eleanor Hal- Abbott would get out something new. Her books are just lovely. They make the nicest bridge prizes—” ou tried ‘Mayfair to Mos- that’s one of those yone really ought to—” o, but I’ve been meaning to for ever s. I've heard it’s awfully in- and you can tell that the au- lady, all the way through. Aunt Laura gave Will ‘White Shadows in the South Seas’ for his birthday, and I didn’t ich for the name. But someone said that it’s pretty spicy in parts, so I thought maybe I'd—” “T don’t think that would be anything you'd like. It’s one of those travel things. And ever since I read ‘Twenty Thousand L s Under the Sea’ out loud to Junior that time he was home from schoo! with swollen glands, I've never—” “I sce there’s a new Zane Grey book out. | know you'll just die laughing, but T always have to stop and think, or else I get Zane Grey mixed up with the one that wrote that old ‘Miss Lulu Bett’—” “Oh, they’re nothing alike. Zane Grey's books are awfully interesting. Fred always says, if he could find an- a few book. peopl lowell at e struct thor is care 1 The Illiterati By DOROTHY PARKER other book as good as ‘Riders of the Pur- ple Sage,’ he'd stay home and read ot an evening. I thought ‘Miss Lulu Bett’ was perfectly horrid. I know they said it was well written and all that, but goodness knows, you want something more than just that. No one wants to read a book that’s too real—” “That’s what I say. I don’t see why anybody takes it into their head to sit down and write a book like that. I’m sure there are lots of pleasanter things and people to write about if a person would just look around them and try to— “Oh, I nearly forgot! They say there’s a new book out that’s just fine. It’s about this Arabian chief, and he gets this American girl out in the desert all alone—well, Mrs. Gersh says it’s one of the raciest things she ever I heard there was an awfully good chance of it being suppressed. I tried to get it at the library, but it’s so popular that it’s awfully hard to get. The librarian took my name, and as soon as it comes in—” “Oh, my dear, lend it to me when you’re through, will you? Now that’s just the kind of book I’m dying to read.” P= aT Choice of Evils “Why do you want to marry during your first season?” “I'd rather be scolded by a husband than a chaperon.” comicbooks.com