Lillian Ross 1918-2017
September 20, 2017 11:39 AM Subscribe
Lillian Ross, who became known as the consummate fly-on-the-wall reporter in a six-decade career at The New Yorker, died on Wednesday in Manhattan. She was 99.
Lillian joined The New Yorker in 1945, and she continued to appear in its pages for the next seventy-odd years, which means that she was not just a contributor but a creator—one of those whose style and tone became a standard to which later writers aspired. That tone—acutely observant, intimate, and very frequently amused—emerged in some of her earliest and best-known pieces, including her Profile of Ernest Hemingway and the five-part series on the making of John Huston’s “The Red Badge of Courage.” She was a master of the Talk of the Town form, with its comic distillation of social mores.
Lillian Ross on Metafilter previously and more previously. (A comment in one of these previous posts expressed a wish for a Lillian Ross anthology. It's been done; the title is Reporting Always.)
Lillian joined The New Yorker in 1945, and she continued to appear in its pages for the next seventy-odd years, which means that she was not just a contributor but a creator—one of those whose style and tone became a standard to which later writers aspired. That tone—acutely observant, intimate, and very frequently amused—emerged in some of her earliest and best-known pieces, including her Profile of Ernest Hemingway and the five-part series on the making of John Huston’s “The Red Badge of Courage.” She was a master of the Talk of the Town form, with its comic distillation of social mores.
Lillian Ross on Metafilter previously and more previously. (A comment in one of these previous posts expressed a wish for a Lillian Ross anthology. It's been done; the title is Reporting Always.)
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posted by General Malaise at 11:58 AM on September 20, 2017
posted by General Malaise at 11:58 AM on September 20, 2017
I missed this when I was writing the original post; the New Yorker has an online article with links to several specific Ross stories and to their whole Ross archive.
posted by ALeaflikeStructure at 12:03 PM on September 20, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by ALeaflikeStructure at 12:03 PM on September 20, 2017 [3 favorites]
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posted by Dressed to Kill at 12:17 PM on September 20, 2017
posted by Dressed to Kill at 12:17 PM on September 20, 2017
...whom I honestly did not know was still living.
Really. That Hemingway profile was written in 1950.
p.s. For those interested, Ross’s extensive reporting on John Huston’s movie The Red Badge of Courage was published in 1952 as a good book called Picture.
posted by LeLiLo at 1:28 PM on September 20, 2017 [1 favorite]
Really. That Hemingway profile was written in 1950.
p.s. For those interested, Ross’s extensive reporting on John Huston’s movie The Red Badge of Courage was published in 1952 as a good book called Picture.
posted by LeLiLo at 1:28 PM on September 20, 2017 [1 favorite]
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posted by St. Hubbins at 1:54 PM on September 20, 2017
posted by St. Hubbins at 1:54 PM on September 20, 2017
What is it with the New Yorker and people named Ross?
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posted by Chrysostom at 3:07 PM on September 20, 2017 [1 favorite]
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posted by Chrysostom at 3:07 PM on September 20, 2017 [1 favorite]
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posted by OolooKitty at 3:55 PM on September 20, 2017
posted by OolooKitty at 3:55 PM on September 20, 2017
Oh, she was one of my heroes. Here's to a life well spotted.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 5:04 PM on September 20, 2017
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 5:04 PM on September 20, 2017
I honestly doesn't know why this feels like such a loss to me, but it does. She's been in the atmosphere of my life for so long...
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posted by hippybear at 8:12 PM on September 20, 2017
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posted by hippybear at 8:12 PM on September 20, 2017
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posted by Dr. Wu at 11:46 AM on September 20, 2017