Catherine Keyser is an assistant professor of English at the University of South Carolina.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Thoroughly Modern Millay and Her Middlebrow Masquerades2. "This Unfortunate Exterior": Dorothy Parker, the Female Body, and Strategic Doubling3. "First Aid to Laughter": Jessie Fauset and the Racial Politics of Smartness4. The Indestructible Glamour Girl: Dawn Powell, Celebrity, and Counterpublics5. "Scratch a Socialist and You Find a Snob": Mary McCarthy, Irony, and PoliticsConclusionNotesSelected BibliographyIndex

"With a sense of humor and style, and a smartness of her own, Keyser takes up the cause and the career of a 'smart' set of women writers who made a distinct mark on modern American culture." - Maria DiBattista (author of Fast Talking Dames) "Keyser's book is a pleasure to read not only because it is incisive and informative, but also because the writer's own wit is everywhere apparent. Her sparkling prose, wedding style, and critical acumen shows Keyser to be an accomplished student of the writers she studies."(Clio) "It is, academically speaking, a smart book."(Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature) "Keyser contributes invaluable insights into how women crafted professional and public identities in the pages of American periodicals at the turn of the twentieth century.(Legacy: A Journal of American Woman Writers)

Catherine Keyser is an assistant professor of English at the University of South Carolina.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Thoroughly Modern Millay and Her Middlebrow Masquerades2. "This Unfortunate Exterior": Dorothy Parker, the Female Body, and Strategic Doubling3. "First Aid to Laughter": Jessie Fauset and the Racial Politics of Smartness4. The Indestructible Glamour Girl: Dawn Powell, Celebrity, and Counterpublics5. "Scratch a Socialist and You Find a Snob": Mary McCarthy, Irony, and PoliticsConclusionNotesSelected BibliographyIndex

"With a sense of humor and style, and a smartness of her own, Keyser takes up the cause and the career of a 'smart' set of women writers who made a distinct mark on modern American culture." - Maria DiBattista (author of Fast Talking Dames) "Keyser's book is a pleasure to read not only because it is incisive and informative, but also because the writer's own wit is everywhere apparent. Her sparkling prose, wedding style, and critical acumen shows Keyser to be an accomplished student of the writers she studies."(Clio) "It is, academically speaking, a smart book."(Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature) "Keyser contributes invaluable insights into how women crafted professional and public identities in the pages of American periodicals at the turn of the twentieth century.(Legacy: A Journal of American Woman Writers)

Catherine Keyser is an assistant professor of English at the University of South Carolina.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Thoroughly Modern Millay and Her Middlebrow Masquerades2. "This Unfortunate Exterior": Dorothy Parker, the Female Body, and Strategic Doubling3. "First Aid to Laughter": Jessie Fauset and the Racial Politics of Smartness4. The Indestructible Glamour Girl: Dawn Powell, Celebrity, and Counterpublics5. "Scratch a Socialist and You Find a Snob": Mary McCarthy, Irony, and PoliticsConclusionNotesSelected BibliographyIndex

"With a sense of humor and style, and a smartness of her own, Keyser takes up the cause and the career of a 'smart' set of women writers who made a distinct mark on modern American culture." - Maria DiBattista (author of Fast Talking Dames) "Keyser's book is a pleasure to read not only because it is incisive and informative, but also because the writer's own wit is everywhere apparent. Her sparkling prose, wedding style, and critical acumen shows Keyser to be an accomplished student of the writers she studies."(Clio) "It is, academically speaking, a smart book."(Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature) "Keyser contributes invaluable insights into how women crafted professional and public identities in the pages of American periodicals at the turn of the twentieth century.(Legacy: A Journal of American Woman Writers)