Lillian Ross (June 8, 1918 – September 20, 2017) was an American

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

and author, who was a staff writer at ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' for seven decades, beginning in 1945. Her novelistic reporting and writing style, shown in early stories about Ernest Hemingway and John Huston, are widely understood as a primary influence on what would later be called "literary journalism" or "new journalism."

Biography

Ross was born Lillian Rosovsky in Syracuse, New York, in 1918 and raised, partly in Syracuse and partly in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, the youngest of three children of Louis and Edna (née Rosenson) Rosovsky. Her elder siblings were Helen and Simeon. During most of her career at ''

'' she conducted an affair with its longtime editor,

William Shawn William Shawn ('' né'' Chon; August 31, 1907 – December 8, 1992) was an American magazine editor who edited ''The New Yorker'' from 1952 until 1987. Early life and education Shawn was born William Chon on August 31, 1907, in Chicago, Illino ...

. In '' The Talk of the Town'', following the death of J. D. Salinger, she wrote of her long friendship with Salinger and showed photographs of him and his family with her family, including her adopted son, Erik (born 1965).

Death

Ross died from a stroke in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

on September 20, 2017, at the age of 99.

Bibliography

Books

* ''Picture'' (account of the making of the film ''

The Red Badge of Courage ''The Red Badge of Courage'' is a war novel by American author Stephen Crane (1871–1900). Taking place during the American Civil War, the story is about a young private of the Union Army, Henry Fleming, who flees from the field of battle. Ove ...

'', originally published in ''The New Yorker''), Rinehart (New York City), 1952,

Anchor Books Vintage Books is a trade paperback publishing imprint of Penguin Random House originally established by Alfred A. Knopf in 1954. The company was purchased by Random House in April 1960, and a British division was set up in 1990. After Random ...

(New York City), 1993. * ''Portrait of Hemingway'' (originally published as a "Profile" in ''The New Yorker'', May 13, 1950),

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pu ...

(New York City), 1961. * (With sister, Helen Ross) ''The Player: A Profile of an Art'' (interviews), Simon & Schuster, 1962, Limelight Editions, 1984. * ''Vertical and Horizontal'' (novel based on stories originally published in ''The New Yorker''), Simon & Schuster, 1963. * ''Reporting'' (articles originally published in ''The New Yorker'', including "The Yellow Bus," "Symbol of All We Possess," "The Big Stone," "Terrific," "El Unico Matador," "Portrait of Hemingway," and "Picture"), Simon & Schuster, 1964, with new introduction by the author, Dodd (New York City), 1981. * ''Talk Stories'' (sixty stories first published in "The Talk of the Town" section of ''The New Yorker'', 1958–65), Simon & Schuster, 1966. * ''Adlai Stevenson'', Lippincott (Philadelphia), 1966. * ''Reporting Two'', Simon & Schuster, 1969. * ''Moments with Chaplin'', Dodd, 1980. * ''Takes: Stories from "The Talk of the Town"'', Congdon & Weed (New York City), 1983. * ''Here but Not Here: A Love Story'' (memoir),

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

, 1998. * ''Reporting Back: Notes on Journalism'', Counterpoint (New York), 2002. * ''Reporting Always: Writing for The New Yorker'' (non-fiction), Scribner, November 2015.

Essays and reporting

* * Talk piece on Transit Radio, Inc. * *

Robin Williams Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian. Known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and come ...

in ''Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo''.

References

External links

"Nothing for Lillian Ross in William Shawn's will"
observer.com
"'William Shawn - stud or saint?': the memories of Lillian Ross and Ved Mehta"

nytimes.com
Profile
nymag.com
J.D. Salinger infosite

slate.com
"'Here But Not Here: A Love Story' by Lillian Ross"
old.post-gazette.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Ross, Lillian 1918 births 2017 deaths Jewish American journalists American women journalists The New Yorker staff writers People from Brooklyn Writers from New York (state) Journalists from New York City 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American journalists 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American Jews