Janet flanner biography

Janet Flanner

As a young girl growing up as part of one of Indianapolis’s leading families, Janet Flanner had a path in life already set for her by her mother, Mary, who wanted her daughter to be what she strived to be: an actress. Janet balked at her mother’s plans, pointing to her prominent nose as a barrier to any career on the stage.

“I pointed out that with this nose I’d be playing Juliet’s nurse or Juliet’s nurse’s nurse, and never Juliet,” she later told a reporter from the International Herald Tribune.

Instead of a life in the theater, Janet aspired to a different artistic endeavor, that of a writer.

Flanner achieved her ambition, becoming a stalwart of one of America’s finest magazines, The New Yorker. From until her retirement in , she produced — under the pen name Genêt — hundreds of thousands of words as the Paris correspondent. In her “Letter from Paris” she sketched profiles for her readers of such notable figures as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Jean Cocteau, Albert Camus, and Charles de Gaulle. Her later editor at The New Yorker, William Shawn, described Flanner as “a poet among journalists.”

Flanner, who died at 86 in , said of her long career: “I love writing. I’m just nuts on writing. Just give me an inkpot and a paper and a pen, and away I go.”

Born on March 13, , Flanner was the second child of Mary Hockett and Francis Flanner, one of the founders of Indianapolis’s Flanner and Buchanan Mortuaries and a leader in the community regarding business and philanthropic ventures. Although at first educated in public schools, Janet later attended Tudor Hall School for Girls, a private college preparatory institution.

After graduation, she spent time with her family visiting Germany. Financial pressures and personal problems drove Francis Flanner to commit suicide in After her father’s death, Janet attended the University of Chicago, taking several writing classes. “I went there two years,” she noted. “I was requested to leave. Lawless. The

American writer and journalist

Janet Flanner (March 13, &#;– November 7, ) was an American writer and pioneering narrative journalist who served as the Paris correspondent of The New Yorker magazine from until she retired in She wrote under the pen name "Genêt". She also published a single novel, The Cubical City, set in New York City.

She was a prominent member of America's expatriate community living in Paris before WWII. Along with her longtime partner Solita Solano, Flanner was called "a defining force in the creative expat scene in Paris". She returned to New York during the war. Flanner split her time between there and Paris until her death in

Early life

Janet Flanner was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, to Frank and Mary Ellen Flanner (née Hockett), who were Quakers. She had two sisters, Marie and Hildegarde Flanner. Her father co-owned a mortuary and ran the first crematorium in the state of Indiana. After a period spent traveling abroad with her family and studies at Tudor Hall School for Girls (now Park Tudor School), she enrolled in the University of Chicago in She left the university in Two years later, she returned to her native city to take up a post as the first cinema critic on the local paper, the Indianapolis Star.

Expatriate in Paris

While in New York, Flanner moved in the circle of the Algonquin Round Table,^&#

Brenda Wineapple. Ticknor & Fields, $ (pp) ISBN

While Flanner () saw herself as an observer of the expatriate community in Paris during the s and '30s, first-time author Wineapple's intimate portrait situates the New Yorker 's award-winning foreign correspondent at the center of the city's literary life. Flanner left her native Indianapolis in for New York, where she became a reluctant member of the erudite ``round table'' wits presiding at the Algonquin Hotel. There she formed an alliance with Harold Ross, who founded the New Yorker in and gave Flanner her position on the magazine and persona as ``Genet.'' She left husband and country in with writer Solita Solano, settling with her in Paris. From to , Flanner filed a bimonthly ``Letter from Paris'' chronicling the lives of the rich, famous and powerful in France, as well as profiles of such artistic and political figures as Edith Wharton, Andre Malraux and Adolf Hitler. Although Flanner was obsessed with ``keeping her private life private,'' Wineapple skillfully reveals the complexity of her family relationships and her long, passionate affairs with Solano and others. Photos not seen by PW. (Dec.)

Details

Reviewed on: 11/01/

Genre: Nonfiction

“I love writing. I’m just nuts on writing. Just give me an inkpot and a paper and a pen, and away I go.” &#; Janet Flanner

Janet Flanner was born March 13, , in Indianapolis, to a prominent Quaker family. Flanner’s father, Frank Flanner, Indiana’s first licensed embalmer, co-owned a mortuary, currently known as Flanner-Buchanan, and also ran the first crematorium in Indiana. Her mother encouraged her to be an actress, but Janet had no passion for the stage. Instead, Flanner followed her own passion and became a writer.

After traveling abroad with her family and then studying in Indianapolis at Tudor Hall School for Girls, now known as Park Tudor School, she enrolled at the University of Chicago in , leaving the school in Flanner returned to Indianapolis and became the first cinema critic for the Indianapolis Star. Starting in , her column &#;Comments on the Screen&#; was one of the first of its kind – a review of films.

In late , Flanner left Indianapolis and headed to New York and eventually on to Paris where she pursued the life of a writer and journalist. She served as the Paris correspondent of The New Yorker magazine from its humble beginnings in , with her first column appearing in the September issue. She wrote under the pen name &#;Genêt.&#; During this time, Flanner also published her one and only novel, &#;The Cubical City,&#; set in New York City.

Working as a foreign correspondent during World War II, Flanner lived in New York City, later returning to Paris in Her work in The New Yorker not only included her famous &#;Letter from Paris&#; columns, but also a seminal three-part series profiling Adolph Hitler in and coverage of the Nuremberg trials in She also participated in a series of weekly radio broadcasts for the NBC Blue Network during the months following the liberation of Paris in late August