Dawn Powell is best known for her satirical depictions of New York society, though a number of her works are set in rural Ohio. She lived most of her life in Greenwich Village, socializing with such artists as Theodore Dreiser, Esther Andrews, and e.e. cummings. She was close to John Dos Passos and Ernest Hemingway, as well as playwright John Howard Lawson and critic Edmund Wilson. Over the course of her career, she wrote fifteen novels, and numerous short stories and plays. Several of her plays were produced by the avant-garde theater, The Group. Though she achieved some acclaim during her life, she struggled to have her work taken as seriously as that of her male counterparts. By the time of her death in 1965, most of her books were out of print. In 1987, Gore Vidal wrote an article…

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Citation: Swearingen, Rachel. "Dawn Powell". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 May 2011 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3621, accessed 19 March 2024.]

3621 Dawn Powell 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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