Candy Is dandy But liquor Is quicker. These inimitable lines could only have been written by Ogden Nash, the American nonpareil of light verse and one of the most remarkable figures in American letters. His keen grasp of human nature and a unique style of verse made him, in the mid-twentieth century, the most widely read and frequently quoted poet of his time. For years, readers have longed for a biography to match Nash's charm, wit, and good nature; now we have it in Douglas Parker's absorbing and delightful life of the poet. My garden will never make me famous, I'm a horticultural ignoramus, I can't tell a stringbean from a soybean, Or even a girl bean from a boy bean. Ogden Nash grew up in Savannah, Georgia, went to prep school in Newport, Rhode Island, dropped out of Harvard after his freshman year, and soon after started work as an editor with Doubleday. When he began publishing humorous poems in the New Yorker, and later when he worked at the magazine, he became part of the literary circle that included E. B. and Katharine White, Dorothy Parker, Harold Ross, and S. J. Perelman. He went on to publish more than two dozen books of verse as well as screenplays, lyrics and scripts for the theater, children's stories, and essays. Douglas Parker, who has had exclusive access to family letters and diaries, and permission to quote liberally from them and from Nash's poems, has written a warm and inviting biography of the poet who reveled in pure whimsy and wordplay, but who was applauded by his more serious contemporaries. With 12 black-and-white photographs.

About the Author

Douglas Parker studied at the Cornell Law School, practiced corporate law in New York City, and served in the White House under President Nixon and in the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He is now retired from private practice and lives in South Orleans, Massachusetts.

Reviews

The life of the man who is fondly remembered for his verse "Candy/Is dandy/ But liquor/Is quicker" was often anything but dandy, according to his assiduous biographer. Ogden Nash's (1902-1971) genteel Southern heritage and one year at Harvard (due to his father's financial reverses) provided him with literary aspirations that led him to fear his jaunty, pun-filled, gently satiric verse was not real poetry. Even after acclaim greeted his frequent publication in the New Yorker, finances forced him to leave his beloved (and temperamental) wife and two daughters to go on the road as a lecturer and performer, where he often suffered bouts of intestinal illness and depression. His yearning for a career in musical theater was briefly (if memorably) fulfilled when he provided the lyrics for Kurt Weill's classic "Speak Low." Gratification came from unexpected sources, however, including a lifelong friendship with S.J. Perelman and the praise of W.H. Auden. Parker, a retired lawyer writing with the Nash family's cooperation, provides numerous examples of Nash's distinctive poetry, his wit underscored by gentle social commentary, antic wordplay and rhyme and meter that seemed random but was meticulously composed. Parker's is a useful, highly readable biography of one of America's best-loved poets. Photos. 12 b&w photos not seen by PW. (Apr. 29) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Adult/High School-Parker paints a picture of a kind, loving man who made words and wordplay fun and entertaining. Even at the age of 10, Nash possessed a talent and an ability to use language cleverly. In 1930, Nash's poems made their appearance in the New Yorker, and this funny, talented writer became part of a literary landscape that included such luminaries as Dorothy Parker and S. J. Perelman. At first glance, Nash's verses seem simple, and yet they are filled with witty lines and twists on spelling. He liked to write about families, and no one was safe from his gentle satire, not even his beloved wife, Frances. Nash told the truth about the ordinary and, in doing so, endeared himself to a lifetime of readers. Would-be poets and satirists as well as students interested in the artistic milieu of the times will enjoy reading this well-written tribute.-Peggy Bercher, Fairfax County Public Library, VA Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

A fast-paced, readable biography....One of the delights of Parker's book is its reprinting of Nash's pleasure-giving lines.--Joseph Rosenblum "Magill's Literary Annual "