Discover Ursula Parrott with Author Marsha Gordon

See the Oscar-winning 1930 classic pre-code film The Divorcee, based on a groundbreaking book by Ursula Parrott. Stay after as Tift Merritt hosts a talkback with Marsha Gordon discussing her new book on Parrott, Becoming the Ex-Wife: The Unconventional Life & Forgotten Writings of Ursula Parrott.
 
Join filmmaker, author, and N.C. State film studies professor Marsha Gordon for the launch of her new book. The event will feature a special screening of The Divorcee, followed by an intimate one-on-one conversation with Marsha and musician Tift Merritt.
 
When a woman discovers that her husband has been unfaithful to her, she decides to respond to his infidelities in kind. 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 20th century American culture, uncovering her neglected work and keen insights into American women’s lives during a period of immense social change.
 

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. Parrott’s first book, Ex-Wife, became a best seller and was adapted by MGM as The Divorcee, starring Norma Shearer in a role that earned her an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role.

According to Pulitzer Prize–winning author Debby Applegate, “Ursula Parrott deserves to be celebrated alongside greats like Dawn Powell and Dorothy Parker. [Marsha Gordon’s biography is] a pleasure to read.”

Marsha’s book, Becoming the Ex-Wife: The Unconventional Life & Forgotten Writings of Ursula Parrott, will be available for purchase in the lobby of The Cary before and after the program courtesy of So & So Books.

Pre-Order thru So & So Books >>

 

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