Fran Ross
Frances Dolores Ross (born June 25, 1935 in Philadelphia ; died September 17, 1985 in New York City ) was an American writer.
life and work
Frances Dolores Ross was born in Philadelphia in 1935 as the eldest daughter of welder Gerald Ross and saleswoman Bernetta Bass Ross. She studied communications and theater studies (BS 1956) at Temple University on a gifted scholarship . In 1960 she moved to New York, where she worked for The Saturday Evening Post and as a proofreader for McGraw-Hill and Simon & Schuster . She wrote occasional articles in magazines such as Essence , titters and Playboy , and briefly also scripts for the late-night talk show of Richard Pryor . Ross died of cancer at the age of 50.
In her only novel, Oreo , Ross tells of growing up a girl with Jewish - black roots and the New York- Odyssey of the 16-year-olds in search of her father and the "mystery of her birth." Oreo was released in 1974, at the height of the Black Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s, and two years before Alex Haley's Roots , the generation saga of an African American family. In contrast to the overwhelming success of Roots was destined, remained Oreo almost unnoticed. From today's perspective, according to the general judgment, Ross was ahead of its time. It wasn't until 15 years after her untimely death that Oreo was rediscovered thanks to Harryette Mullen , reprinted several times since then, promoted by influential advocates and is now considered a masterpiece of postmodern literature . In 2019, Oreo was published for the first time in German, translated by Pieke Biermann , who was awarded the Leipzig Book Fair Prize in the " Translation " category in 2020 for its congenial transmission .
novel
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Oreo . Northeastern University Press, 1974
- Oreo . Translation and notes Pieke Biermann , epilogue Max Czollek . Munich: dtv, 2019 ISBN 978-3-423281973
Web links
- Literature by and about Fran Ross in the WorldCat bibliographic database
- Short biography and reviews of works by Fran Ross at perlentaucher.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Mat Johnson: 'Oreo': A Satire Of Racial Identity, Inside And Out , You Must Read This , NPR , March 9, 2011
- ↑ a b Max Czollek : On the art of taking the second step before the first. Epilogue to: Fran Ross: Oreo. dtv, Munich 2019.
- ↑ Danzy Senna: An Overlooked Classic About the Comedy of Race , in: The New Yorker , May 7, 2015
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ross, Fran |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Ross, Frances Dolores |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American writer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 25, 1935 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Philadelphia |
| DATE OF DEATH | 17th September 1985 |
| Place of death | New York City |