Francine du Plessix Gray  

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 +'''Francine du Plessix Gray''' (September 25, 1930 – January 13, 2019), was an American [[Pulitzer Prize]]-nominated writer and literary critic.
 +
 +==Biography==
 +
 +=== Early life, family background, and education ===
 +She was born on September 25, 1930, in [[Warsaw, Poland]], where her father, [[Vicomte]] Bertrand Jochaud du Plessix, was a [[France|French]] [[diplomat]] – the [[Commerce|commercial]] [[attaché]]. She spent her early years in [[Paris]], where a milieu of mixed cultures and a multilingual family (French father and [[Russian language|Russian]] mother) influenced her. Her father, then a [[sub-lieutenant]] in the [[Free French Forces|Free]] [[French Air Force]] died in 1940, shot down near [[Gibraltar]].
 +
 +Her mother, Tatiana Iacovleff du Plessix, (1906–1991) had come to France as a [[refugee]] from [[Bolshevik]] [[Russia]], and ended an engagement to [[Vladimir Mayakovsky]] in 1928, before marrying du Plessix. During her widowhood, she once again became a refugee, escaping [[German occupation of France during World War II|occupied France]] via [[Lisbon]] to [[New York City|New York]] in 1940 or 1941 with Francine and [[Alexander Liberman]] (1912–1999). In 1942, she married Liberman, another White Russian émigré, whom she had known in Paris as a child. (During his love affair with Liberman's mother, her uncle, Alexandre Yacovleff, had recruited Tatiana to keep the boy occupied.) He was a noted artist and later a longtime editorial director of ''[[Vogue Magazine|Vogue]]'' magazine and then of [[Condé Nast Publications]]. The Libermans were socially prominent in media, art and fashion circles.
 +
 +For the first six months in the United States, young Francine lived with her mother's father (whom she had never met) in [[Rochester, New York]], while her mother settled in. She grew up in [[New York City]] and was [[naturalized]] a [[U.S. citizen]] in 1952. She was a scholarship student at [[Spence School]], where she fainted in the library from [[malnutrition]]. Her mother learned that she had not been eating the meals the housekeeper prepared for her. She attended [[Bryn Mawr College]] for two years, and earned a [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] in [[philosophy]] at [[Barnard College]] in 1952.<ref name=ContempBio/><ref name=McAlpin2005>
 +{{cite news |first=Heller |last=Mcalpin |authorlink=Heller Mcalpin
 + |title=Living lives of glamour in the midst of chaos
 + |url=http://articles.latimes.com/2005/may/22/books/bk-mcalpin22
 + |work=[[Los Angeles Times]]
 + |publisher= |location= |id= |pages= |page=R-3
 + |date=22 May 2005
 + |accessdate=31 October 2008
 + |author= |coauthors= |quote= |archiveurl= |archivedate= }}
 +</ref><ref name=Bellafante2005>
 +{{cite news |first=Ginia |last=Bellafante |authorlink=Ginia Bellafante
 + |title=Francine du Plessix Gray: A Back Turned On the High Life
 + |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/28/garden/28gray.html?n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/C/Chagall,%20Marc&pagewanted=all&position=
 + |work=[[New York Times]]
 + |publisher= |location= |id= |pages= |page=
 + |date=28 April 2005
 + |accessdate=2 November 2008
 + |author= |coauthors= |quote= |archiveurl= |archivedate= }}
 +</ref>
 +
 +=== Personal life ===
 +On 23 April 1957, she married the [[Painting|painter]] [[Cleve Gray]] and until his death they lived together in [[Connecticut]]. They had two sons.<ref name=ContempBio/> Francine du Plessix Gray died on January 13, 2019 in Manhattan.<ref>{{cite news |last1=William |first1=Grimes |title=Francine du Plessix Gray, Searching Novelist and Journalist, Is Dead at 88 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/14/books/francine-du-plessix-gray-dead.html |accessdate=January 16, 2019 |work=New York Times |date=January 14, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Gopnik |first1=Adam |title=Becoming Francine du Plessix Gray |url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/postscript/becoming-francine-du-plessix-gray |accessdate=January 16, 2018 |work=The New Yorker |date=January 15, 2019}}</ref>
 +
 +==Career==
 +*[[United Press International]], New York City, reporter at night desk, 1952–54
 +*''[[:fr:Réalités (France)|Réalités]]'' (French magazine), [[Paris, France]], editorial assistant for French edition, 1954–55
 +*[[Freelance writer]], 1955--
 +*[[Art in America]], New York City, book editor, 1964–66
 +*''[[The New Yorker]]'', New York City, staff writer, 1968-. [[Robert Gottlieb]] was her [[editor in chief|editor]].
 +*Distinguished visiting professor at [[City College of the City University of New York]], spring 1975
 +*Visiting lecturer at [[Saybrook College]], [[Yale University]], 1981
 +*Adjunct professor, School of Fine Arts, [[Columbia University]], 1983--
 +*Ferris Professor, [[Princeton University]], 1986
 +*Annenberg fellow, [[Brown University]], 1997<ref name=ContempBio/>
 +
 +==Memberships==
 +*[[American Academy of Arts and Letters]]
 +*[[Authors Guild]]
 +*Institute of Humanities at [[New York University]]<ref name=ContempBio/>
 +*[[International PEN]]
 +
 +==Awards==
 +*Putnam Creative Writing Award from [[Barnard College]], 1952
 +*National Catholic Book Award from Catholic Press Association, 1971, for ''Divine Disobedience: Profiles in Catholic Radicalism''
 +*Front Page Award from Newswomen's Club of New York, 1972, for ''Hawaii: The Sugar-Coated Fortress''
 +*[[LL.D.]]
 +::[[City University of New York]], 1981
 +::[[Oberlin College]], 1985
 +::[[University of Santa Clara]], 1985
 +::[[St. Mary's College of California]]
 +::[[University of Hartford]]
 +*[[Guggenheim fellow]] 1991-92
 +*[[National Book Critics Circle Award]] for [[autobiography]], 2006, for ''Them: A Memoir of Parents''.<ref name=ContempBio/>
-'''Francine du Plessix Gray''' is a [[Pulitzer Prize]]-nominated writer and literary critic.  
==Books== ==Books==
*Gray, F. d. P. (1970). ''Divine disobedience: profiles in Catholic radicalism''. New York: [[Alfred A. Knopf|Knopf]]. *Gray, F. d. P. (1970). ''Divine disobedience: profiles in Catholic radicalism''. New York: [[Alfred A. Knopf|Knopf]].
*Gray, F. d. P. (1972). ''Hawaii: the sugar-coated fortress''. New York: [[Random House]]. *Gray, F. d. P. (1972). ''Hawaii: the sugar-coated fortress''. New York: [[Random House]].
-*Gray, F. d. P. (1976). ''Lovers and tyrants''. New York: [[Simon and Schuster]].+*Gray, F. d. P. (1976). ''Lovers and tyrants''. New York: [[Simon & Schuster]].
-*Gray, F. d. P. (1981). ''World without end: a novel''. New York: Simon and Schuster.+*Gray, F. d. P. (1981). ''World without end: a novel''. New York: Simon & Schuster.
-*Gray, F. d. P. (1985). ''October blood''. New York: Simon and Schuster.+*Gray, F. d. P. (1985). ''October blood''. New York: Simon & Schuster.
 +*Gray, F. d. P. (1987). ''ADAM & EVE and the CITY''. Simon & Schuster.
*Gray, F. d. P. (1990). ''Soviet women: walking the tightrope''. New York: [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]]. *Gray, F. d. P. (1990). ''Soviet women: walking the tightrope''. New York: [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]].
*Gray, F. d. P. (1994). ''Rage and fire: a life of [[Louise Colet]], pioneer feminist, literary star, [[Flaubert]]'s muse''. New York: Simon & Schuster. *Gray, F. d. P. (1994). ''Rage and fire: a life of [[Louise Colet]], pioneer feminist, literary star, [[Flaubert]]'s muse''. New York: Simon & Schuster.
-*Gray, F. d. P. (1998). ''[[At Home With the Marquis de Sade: A Life]]''. New York, NY: [[Simon & Schuster]].+*Gray, F. d. P. (1998). ''[[At home with the Marquis de Sade]]: a life''. New York, NY: [[Simon & Schuster]].
*Gray, F. d. P. (2001). ''[[Simone Weil]]''. New York: [[Viking Press]]. *Gray, F. d. P. (2001). ''[[Simone Weil]]''. New York: [[Viking Press]].
 +*{{cite book
 +| author=Gray, F. d. P.
 +| year=2005
 +| title= Them: a memoir of parents.
 +| place=New York
 +|publisher= [[Penguin Press]]
 +| isbn=978-0-14-303719-4
 +| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QdLMFUEkOJQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:Francine+inauthor:du+inauthor:Plessix+inauthor:Gray&sig=ACfU3U0CoibOmMO3quRw3k9G2HISLVNysQ }}
 +*Gray, F. d. P. (2008). ''[[Madame de Staël]]''. [[Atlas & Co.]]. {{ISBN|978-1-934633-17-5}}.<ref>
 +{{cite news |first=Carolyn |last=See |authorlink=Carolyn See
 + |title=French Letters' Open Book
 + |work=[[Washington Post]]
 + |publisher= |location= |id= |pages= |page=C2
 + |date=31 October 2008
 + |author= |coauthors= |archiveurl= |archivedate=
 + |quote=<nowiki>[She]</nowiki> does a marvelous job in "Madame de Staël" filling us in on the [[French Revolution]] as though it were easy to understand...I loved this book!
 +}}
 +</ref>
 +
 +==References==
 +{{Reflist}}
 +
 +==Further reading==
 +*Contemporary Authors Autobiography Series, Volume 2, Gale (Detroit), 1985.
 +*Contemporary Literary Criticism, Volume 22, Gale, 1982.
 +*[[American Spectator]], January, 1982; July, 1990.
 +*[[Belles Lettres]], summer, 1994.
 +*Booklist, February 1, 1994, p.&nbsp;990.
 +*[[Books and Bookmen]], March, 1971.
 +*Book World, October 13, 1985.
 +*[[Chicago Tribune]] Book World, May 31, 1981; August 15, 1982; March 25, 1990.
 +*[[Commentary (magazine)|Commentary]], August, 1981.
 +*[[Commonweal (magazine)|Commonweal]], May 22, 1981.
 +*[[Contemporary Review]], January, 1996, p.&nbsp;53.
 +*[[Detroit News]], December 16, 1981.
 +*[[Economist (magazine)]], February 13, 1999.
 +*{{cite news |first= |last= |authorlink=
 + |title=Simone Weil and Rosa Parks: Two kinds of heroism
 + |url=http://www.economist.com/books/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_GJJGDP
 + |work=[[Economist magazine]]
 + |publisher= |location= |id= |pages= |page=
 + |date=2001-07-19
 + |accessdate=2008-11-03
 + |author= |coauthors= |quote= |archiveurl= |archivedate= }}
 +*''[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]]'', June, 1981.
 +*[[Harper's Magazine|Harpers]], November, 1976.
 +* Listener, February 25, 1971; June 2, 1977.
 +* [[Los Angeles Times]] Book Review, March 25, 1990.
 +* [[Maclean's]], April 9, 1990.
 +* [[Ms. (magazine)]], November, 1976; July, 1981.
 +* [[Nation]], February 1, 1971; November 20, 1976; June 4, 1990.
 +* [[National Observer (USA)|National Observer]], December 18, 1976.
 +* [[National Review]], November 12, 1976; December 31, 1998, p.&nbsp;44.
 +* [[The New Republic|New Republic]], June 27, 1970; May 9, 1994, p.&nbsp;39.
 +* [[Newsweek]], October 11, 1976; June 22, 1981; March 26, 1990.
 +* [[The New Yorker]], October 12, 1998, p.&nbsp;85.
 +* [[New York Review of Books]], November 11, 1976; May 26, 1994, p.&nbsp;12.
 +* [[New York Times]], October 8, 1976; September 15, 1979; May 19, 1981; August 20, 1981; April 6, 1992.
 +* [[New York Times Book Review]], May 31, 1970; October 17, 1976; May 24, 1981; September 12, 1982; October 6, 1985; March 11, 1990; March 20, 1994.
 +* {{cite journal| url=http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/2642/the-art-of-fiction-no-96-francine-du-plessix-gray| title=Francine du Plessix Gray, The Art of Fiction No. 96| work=Paris Review| date=Summer 1987 | author=Regina Weinreich }}
 +* [[The Progressive]], November, 1981.
 +* [[Publishers Weekly]], January 17, 1994, p.&nbsp;376; October 5, 1998, p.&nbsp;65.
 +* [[Quill & Quire]], July, 1990.
 +* [[Saturday Review (US magazine)|Saturday Review]], June 13, 1970; October 30, 1976; May, 1981.
 +* [[Time magazine]], November 1, 1976.
 +* [[Times Literary Supplement]], May 20, 1977; July 22, 1994.
 +* [[Village Voice]], November 22, 1976.
 +* [[Wall Street Journal]], October 25, 1976; June 1, 1981.
 +* [[Washington Post]] Book World, August 29, 1976; October 24, 1976; May 24, 1981; March 11, 1990.
 +* [[Women's Review of Books]], December, 1990.
 +
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Francine du Plessix Gray (September 25, 1930 – January 13, 2019), was an American Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer and literary critic.

Contents

Biography

Early life, family background, and education

She was born on September 25, 1930, in Warsaw, Poland, where her father, Vicomte Bertrand Jochaud du Plessix, was a French diplomat – the commercial attaché. She spent her early years in Paris, where a milieu of mixed cultures and a multilingual family (French father and Russian mother) influenced her. Her father, then a sub-lieutenant in the Free French Air Force died in 1940, shot down near Gibraltar.

Her mother, Tatiana Iacovleff du Plessix, (1906–1991) had come to France as a refugee from Bolshevik Russia, and ended an engagement to Vladimir Mayakovsky in 1928, before marrying du Plessix. During her widowhood, she once again became a refugee, escaping occupied France via Lisbon to New York in 1940 or 1941 with Francine and Alexander Liberman (1912–1999). In 1942, she married Liberman, another White Russian émigré, whom she had known in Paris as a child. (During his love affair with Liberman's mother, her uncle, Alexandre Yacovleff, had recruited Tatiana to keep the boy occupied.) He was a noted artist and later a longtime editorial director of Vogue magazine and then of Condé Nast Publications. The Libermans were socially prominent in media, art and fashion circles.

For the first six months in the United States, young Francine lived with her mother's father (whom she had never met) in Rochester, New York, while her mother settled in. She grew up in New York City and was naturalized a U.S. citizen in 1952. She was a scholarship student at Spence School, where she fainted in the library from malnutrition. Her mother learned that she had not been eating the meals the housekeeper prepared for her. She attended Bryn Mawr College for two years, and earned a B.A. in philosophy at Barnard College in 1952.<ref name=ContempBio/><ref name=McAlpin2005> Template:Cite news </ref><ref name=Bellafante2005> Template:Cite news </ref>

Personal life

On 23 April 1957, she married the painter Cleve Gray and until his death they lived together in Connecticut. They had two sons.<ref name=ContempBio/> Francine du Plessix Gray died on January 13, 2019 in Manhattan.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Career

Memberships

Awards

  • Putnam Creative Writing Award from Barnard College, 1952
  • National Catholic Book Award from Catholic Press Association, 1971, for Divine Disobedience: Profiles in Catholic Radicalism
  • Front Page Award from Newswomen's Club of New York, 1972, for Hawaii: The Sugar-Coated Fortress
  • LL.D.
City University of New York, 1981
Oberlin College, 1985
University of Santa Clara, 1985
St. Mary's College of California
University of Hartford

Books

Template:Cite news </ref>

References

Template:Reflist

Further reading





Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Francine du Plessix Gray" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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