Anita Loos – författare

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: The Intimate Diary of a Professional Lady (1925) is a novel by Anita Loos. Adapted from a series of stories written for Harper’s Bazaar, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was an astounding success for Loos, who had mired for over a decade as a screenwriter in Hollywood and New York. An immediate bestseller, the novel earned praise from leading writers and critics of its time, and has been adapted several times for theater and film. Recognized as a defining text of the Jazz Age, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is an absolute classic dubbed “the great American novel” by Edith Wharton. Lorelei Lee is a young flapper living a life of luxury in Manhattan. A mistress for prominent Chicago businessman Gus Eisman, who pays handsomely, Lorelei has far surpassed her roots as a young woman from Little Rock, Arkansas. Despite her talent as an actress, she finds herself held as an object by wealthy, often married men, whom she uses accordingly. Hers is a life of fine cuisine, opulent jewelry, and tickets to the best shows in town. Soon, however, she grows tired of New York, and sets off on a trip to Europe with her friend Dorothy Shaw. Away from the men who had dragged them down, the two women explore London, Paris, and Vienna, where they find new dopes to dupe with the promise of love. A caricature of the Jazz Age woman, Lorelei Lee reflects the libido and materialism of a generation caught between wars, situated in a time of exponential cultural change, yet wary of disaster’s proximity. This edition of Anita Loos’ Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: The Intimate Diary of a Professional Lady is a classic of American literature reimagined for modern readers.

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Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is a landmark satirical novel by Anita Loos. In it we follow the diary entries of Lorelei Lee a blond flapper from Little Rock complete with spelling and grammar errors. What follows is a delightful romp as we discover that Lorelei is anything but a dumb blonde. Her observations on life are witty, humorous, cutting, and outrageous. A classic from the Jazz Age, just as relevant today as when it was first published. Join this delightful gold digger with a heart of gold on her adventures and escapades.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes - The Diary of a Professional Lady is a novel by American author Anita Loos.

In this comic novel written by American author Anita Loos, we follow the adventures of the fictional character Lorelei Lee who is a young blonde flapper. This story takes place in the hedonistic Jazz Age and is written in the form of a diary from Lorelei's viewpoint as she shares stories of the men she entertains in New York City and Europe. “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” was an instant bestseller and has been declared as “the great American novel” by Edith Wharton. - Summary by Jenn Broda

The heroine of the stories, Lorelei Lee, is a bold, ambitious flapper, who is much more concerned with collecting expensive baubles from her conquests than any marriage licenses, in addition to being a shrewd woman of loose morals and high self-esteem. She is a practical young woman who had internalized the materialism of the United States in the 1920s and equated culture with cold cash and tangible assets.

Published the same year as F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and Carl Van Vechten's Firecrackers, the work is one of several famous 1925 American novels which focus upon the insouciant hedonism of the Jazz Age. The book garnered the praise of many writers including F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce, William Faulkner, and H. G. Wells. The book would see 85 editions in the years to come and eventually be translated into 14 languages, including Chinese.

Loos' lighthearted book became the second-best selling title of 1926 in the United States and a runaway international bestseller. It was printed throughout the world in over thirteen different languages, including Russian and Chinese. By the time Loos died of a heart attack in 1981 at the age of 93, the work had been printed in over 85 editions and adapted into a 1926 comic strip, a 1928 silent comedy, a 1949 Broadway musical, and a 1953 film adaptation of the latter musical.

Corinne Anita Loos (1893-1981) was an American actress, novelist, playwright and screenwriter. Audiobook read by Jenn Broda, running time 3 hours, 44 min. Unabridged full version.