Dorothy Parker left a number of poems un-anthologized at her death, of which L.A. lawyer Stuart Silverstein gathered together 122 in “Not Much Fun: The Lost Poems of Dorothy Parker.”See Amazon’s “search within book” for some excerpts; also see a review in Salon Some time later Penguin Putnam published “Dorothy Parker, Complete Poems” and incorporated all but one of the poems in the “Not Much Fun” book without giving Silverstein any credit or payment. Silverstein sued, claiming compilation copyright. The cases has been to trial (where Silverstein won) to appeal [PDF] (where he lost on some issues), was rebuffed by the Supreme Court (cert. denied [PDF]) and is now returning to a retrial of issues directed by the appellate court. The New York Times has a brief story on the matter.
I think that Mrs. Parker might well have enjoyed this brouhaha, having a pleasingly sardonic wit. If for some reason you’ve not made her acquaintance, I recommend you give her a try, particularly her “sayings,” bons mots only surpassed (perhaps) by Oscar Wilde’s. I’ll resist the temptation to retail a hundred or so here and simply direct you to a site that contains a number.
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