Marsha Gordon 
Becoming the Ex-Wife 
The Unconventional Life and Forgotten Writings of Ursula Parrott

‚Makes an excellent case for Parrott as an unjustly forgotten historical figure.’—The New Yorker

‚Remind[s] us of the brazenly talented women sidelined by convention.’—New York Times
The riveting biography of Ursula Parrott—best-selling author, Hollywood screenwriter, and voice for the modern woman.  


Credited with popularizing the label ‚ex-wife‘ in 1929, Ursula Parrott wrote provocatively about divorcées, career women, single mothers, work-life balance, and a host of new challenges facing modern women. Her best sellers, Hollywood film deals, marriages and divorces, and run-ins with the law made her a household name. Part biography, part cultural history,
Becoming the Ex-Wife establishes Parrott’s rightful place in twentieth-century American culture, uncovering her neglected work and keen insights into American women’s lives during a period of immense social change.

 

Although she was frequently dismissed as a ‚woman’s writer, ‚ reading Parrott’s writing today makes it clear that she was a trenchant philosopher of modernity—her work was prescient, anticipating issues not widely raised until decades after her decline into obscurity. With elegant wit and a deft command of the archive, Marsha Gordon tells a timely story about the life of a woman on the front lines of a culture war that is still raging today.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Illustrations 

A Note on Name Usage


Introduction: ‚Maxims in the Copybook of Modernism‘

1 • The Limited Life of a Dorchester Girl 

2 • At Radcliffe: ‚A Pushy Lace-Curtain Irish Girl from Dorchester‘

3 • First Husband, Lindesay Parrott: ‚Strange Moments of Tenderness and Pretty Constant Dislike‘

4 • Modern Parenting

5 • Greenwich Village: The Path to Becoming a ‚Self-Sufficient, Independent, Successful Manager of Her Own Life‘

6 • Hugh O’Connor: High Felicity on the ‚Road of No Rules‘

7 • New Freedoms in the ‚Era of the One-Night Stand‘: The Ex-Wife Is Born

8 • Ursula Goes to Hollywood

9 • Second Husband, Charles Greenwood: ‚The Stupidest Thing I Ever Did in My Life‘

10 • ‚Extravagant Hell‘

11 • The Business of Being a Writer

12 • Third Husband, John Wildberg: The Faint Resemblance of Stability

13 • ‚The Monotony and Weariness of Living‘

14 • Fourth Husband, Alfred Coster Schermerhorn: ‚Two Catastrophes Should Be Enough‘

15 • Saving Private Bryan: The United States vs. Ursula Parrott

16 • Her ‚Breaks Went Bad‘

17 • ‚Black Coffee, Scotch, and Excitement‘

Afterword: Remembering a ‚Leftover Lady‘


Acknowledgments 

Chronology

Notes

Published Writings of Ursula Parrott

Bibliography

Index

Über den Autor

Marsha Gordon is Professor of Film Studies at North Carolina State University, a former Fellow at the National Humanities Center, and the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar award. She is the author of numerous books and articles and codirector of several short documentaries.