The Lost Algonquin Round Table
The Lost Algonquin Round Table: Humor, Fiction, Journalism, Criticism and Poetry From America’s Most Famous Literary Circle
Edited by Nat Benchley and Kevin C. Fitzpatrick
Hardcover & Paperback, 300 pages, Donald Books, 2009.
The Lost Algonquin Round Table contains 50 pieces written by the legendary group of writers and critics that met at New York City’s Algonquin Hotel in the 1920s. This new collection presents, for the first time, many pieces from family collections and long-lost periodicals. Nat Benchley, grandson of Robert Benchley, and Kevin C. Fitzpatrick, author of A Journey into Dorothy Parker’s New York and founder of the Dorothy Parker Society, edited the book. Unearthed from dusty bookcases, public troves and dark recesses:
*Humor pieces by Robert Benchley, Franklin P. Adams, Heywood Broun, Frank Sullivan, and Donald Ogden Stewart.
*Criticism from Dorothy Parker, George S. Kaufman, and Robert E. Sherwood.
*Short fiction by Laurence Stallings and Pulitzer Prize-winners Edna Ferber and Margaret Leech.
*Journalism from Alexander Woollcott, Ruth Hale, and Deems Taylor.
*Poetry by Adams, Marc Connelly, Dorothy Parker, and John V. A. Weaver.
The Lost Algonquin Round Table is a rich compendium of the writings that made the group famous, before their japes and bon mots were collected and anthologized. Here, under one cover, are many of the pieces that brought the members of the famous salon to the publics attention. The collection offers ample evidence of why the group was so revered.