William Shawn

William Shawn (born August 31, 1907 in Chicago , † December 8, 1992 in New York ) was an American magazine editor who edited The New Yorker magazine from 1952 to 1987 .

Life

William Shawn was born in Chicago on August 31, 1907, to Benjamin W. and Anna Bransky Chon . He left the University of Michigan after two years in 1927. He went to Las Vegas and worked for the local newspaper Optic . He then returned to his birthplace and worked as a journalist . Around 1930 he had his last name changed to "Shawn". In 1932 he went to New York with his young wife Cecille to earn a living as a composer . Cecille took a job with the New Yorker ; her husband started working there in 1933.

He oversaw the magazine's coverage of World War II . In 1946 he persuaded the founder of the magazine, Harald Ross, to make the entire issue of August 31, 1946 available for the complete reprint of the reportage Hiroshima by John Hersey . Ross died in 1951. Shortly thereafter, William Shawn became editor-in-chief.

Shawn's gentle style was in direct contrast to Ross' lively way of writing. His shyness, claustrophobia and fear of elevators were almost legendary throughout the editorial team .

When Advance Publications bought the magazine in 1985, the new owners promised that the editorial team would not change hands until Shawn retired. But the rumor mill as to who would be Shawn's successor had long since been fueled. Shawn had been an editor for a long time and the usual criticism that the magazine had become boring and trite grew. In February 1987, Advance Publications Chairman SI Newhouse pushed Shawn off the editorial staff. Shawn's successor was then Robert Gottlieb . Shawn then accepted a post as editor at the New York publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux until his death on December 8, 1992 .

Shawn was in a relationship with Cecille Lyon, whom he married in 1928. He had three children. One of the children is the writer and actor Wallace Shawn . Allen Shawn , also one of his children, married Jamaica Kincaid . Shawn's former colleague Lillian Ross revealed in a short biography in 1996 that she had an affair with him from 1950 until Shawn's death and that his wife knew about it. He was portrayed by Bob Balaban in the 2005 film Capote .