THE MESSAGE OF THE CITY
THE MESSAGE OF THE CITY
Dawn Powell’s New York Novels, 1925–1962
PATRICIA E. PALERMO
SWALLOW PRESS
Athens, Ohio
Swallow Press
An imprint of Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio 45701
© 2016 by Patricia E. Palermo
All rights reserved
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Palermo, Patricia E., author.
Title: The message of the city : Dawn Powell’s New York novels, 1925-1962 / Patricia E. Palermo.
Other titles: Dawn Powell’s New York novels, 1925-1962
Description: Athens, Ohio : Swallow Press, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016004246| ISBN 9780804011679 (hardback) | ISBN 9780804011686 (pb) | ISBN 9780804040686 (pdf)
Subjects: LCSH: Powell, Dawn—Criticism and interpretation. | Women and literature—United States—History—20th century. | Satire, American—History and criticism. | New York (N.Y.)—In literature. | Powell, Dawn. | Authors, American—20th century—Biography. | BISAC: BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / General. | LITERARY COLLECTIONS / American /
General. | LITERARY COLLECTIONS / General.
Classification: LCC PS3531.O936 Z85 2016 | DDC 813/.52—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016004246
Excerpt from MRS. DALLOWAY by Virginia Woolf. Copyright 1925 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Copyright © renewed 1953 by Leonard Woolf. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
“The Great Figure” by William Carlos Williams, from THE COLLECTED POEMS: VOLUME I, 1909–1939, copyright © 1938 by New Directions Publishing Corp.
Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.
For Tim Page
CONTENTS
CHAPTERS
ONE. “Allow Me to Introduce You”
TWO. “Hidden in Plain View”: An Overview of Her Life and Career
The Diaries of Dawn Powell, 1931–1965
Selected Letters of Dawn Powell, 1913–1965
Short Stories, Essays, and Reviews
FOUR. “Mighty Things from Small Beginnings Grow”: The Early New York Novels, 1925–38
Whither, 1925
Turn, Magic Wheel, 1936
The Happy Island, 1938
FIVE. “An Affecting Self-Portrait of the Artist in Middle Age”: The Middle New York Novels, 1940–48
Angels on Toast, 1940
A Time to Be Born, 1942
The Locusts Have No King, 1948
SIX. “Either That Wallpaper Goes, or I Do”: The Late New York Novels, 1954–62
The Wicked Pavilion, 1954
The Golden Spur, 1962
SEVEN. “Turn, Magic Wheel”: The Changing Fortunes of Dawn Powell
