Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. "How to tell the difference between a Matisse painting and a Spanish omelette": Dorothy Parker, Vogue, and Vanity Fair -- 2. "Brains are really everything": Anita Loos's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes -- 3. "A plumber's idea of Cleopatra": Mae West as Author -- 4. "Astronomers located her in the latitude of Prince Edward Island": L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, and Early Hollywood -- 5. "The best product of this century": Margaret Kennedy's The Constant Nymph -- 6. "Literature or just sheer flapdoodle?": Stella Gibbons's Cold Comfort Farm -- 7. "Wildest hopes exceeded": E. M. Delafield's Diary of a Provincial Lady -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Introduction -- 1 -- 2 -- 3 -- 4 -- 5 -- 6 -- 7 -- Bibliography -- Index.