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{{short description|American novelist}}
{{short description|American novelist (1931–2005)}}
{{use mdy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{use American English|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox person
{{Infobox person
|name = Rona Jaffe
|name = Rona Jaffe
|image = File:American author Rona Jaffe.png
|birth_date = {{birth date|1931|6|12}}
|caption = Jaffe in the 1970s
|birth_place = [[Brooklyn, New York|Brooklyn]], [[New York (state)|New York]], [[United States]], [[North America]]
|death_date = {{death date and age|2005|12|30|1931|6|12}}
|birth_date = {{birth date|1931|6|12}}
|birth_place = [[New York City]], U.S.
⚫
|death_place = [[London]], [[England]], [[United Kingdom]], [[Europe]]
|death_date = {{death date and age|2005|12|30|1931|6|12}}
⚫
|occupation = Novelist
⚫
|death_place = [[London|London, England]]
|spouse =
⚫
|occupation = Novelist
|alma_mater = [[Radcliffe College]]
|years_active = 1958–2003
}}
}}
'''Rona Jaffe''' (June 12, 1931 – December 30, 2005) was an American [[novelist]] who published numerous works from 1958 to 2003. During the 1960s, she also wrote cultural pieces for ''[[Cosmopolitan Magazine|Cosmopolitan]]''.
'''Rona Jaffe''' (June 12, 1931 – December 30, 2005) was an American [[novelist]] who published numerous works from 1958 to 2003. During the 1960s, she also wrote cultural pieces for ''[[Cosmopolitan Magazine|Cosmopolitan]]''.


==Early life and education==
==Biography==
Jaffe was born in [[Brooklyn, New York]], in 1931, the only child of Samuel Jaffe, an elementary-school principal, and his first wife, Diana (née Ginsberg). Her grandfather was a construction magnate who built the [[Carlyle Hotel]]. Growing up in affluent circumstances on the [[Upper East Side]] of Manhattan, she graduated from [[Radcliffe College]] in 1951.<ref name=obit>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/31/arts/31jaffe.html?ex=1293685200&en=ed58627bd8c08097&ei=5090|title=Rona Jaffe, Author of Popular Novels, Is Dead at 74|date=2005-12-31|work=The New York Times|first=Mitchell|last=Owens|accessdate=2010-05-22}}</ref>
Jaffe was born into a Jewish family in 1931 [[Brooklyn]], New York City.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Bergman |first=Jess |date=2023-07-18 |title=Family Ties |url=https://jewishcurrents.org/family-ties |magazine=[[Jewish Currents]] |access-date=2024-01-30}} </ref> She was the only child of Samuel Jaffe, an elementary-school principal, and his first wife, Diana (''née'' Ginsberg). Her grandfather was a construction magnate who built the [[Carlyle Hotel]]. Growing up in affluent circumstances on the [[Upper East Side]] of Manhattan, she attended the [[Dalton School]] before graduating from [[Radcliffe College]] in 1951.<ref name=obit>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/31/arts/31jaffe.html?ex=1293685200&en=ed58627bd8c08097&ei=5090|title=Rona Jaffe, Author of Popular Novels, Is Dead at 74|date=2005-12-31|work=The New York Times|first=Mitchell|last=Owens|accessdate=2010-05-22}}</ref>


==Career==
Jaffe wrote her first book, ''[[The Best of Everything (novel)|The Best of Everything]]'' (1958), while working as an [[associate editor]] at [[Fawcett Publications]] in the 1950s. It was quickly adapted into a film starring [[Joan Crawford]], also called ''[[The Best of Everything (1959 film)|The Best of Everything]]'' ([[1959 in film|1959]]).<ref name=obit/> The book has been described as distinctly "pre-[[women's liberation]]" in the way it depicts women in the working world.{{fact|date=July 2019}} [[Camille Paglia]] noted in 2004 that the book and popular [[HBO]] series ''[[Sex and the City]]'' had much in common in that the characters in both (who have similar lives) are "very much at the mercy of [[Rake (character)|cad]]s".<ref>{{cite news|last=Smith|first=Dinitia|title=Real-Life Questions In an Upscale Fantasy|newspaper=The New York Times|date=2004-02-01|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/01/tv/cover-story-real-life-questions-in-an-upscale-fantasy.html|accessdate=2014-07-15}}</ref>
Jaffe wrote her first book, ''[[The Best of Everything (novel)|The Best of Everything]]'' (1958), while working as an [[associate editor]] at [[Fawcett Publications]] in the 1950s. It was quickly adapted into a film starring [[Joan Crawford]], also called ''[[The Best of Everything (1959 film)|The Best of Everything]]'' ([[1959 in film|1959]]).<ref name=obit/> The book has been described as distinctly "pre-[[women's liberation]]" in the way it depicts women in the working world.{{citation needed|date=July 2019}} [[Camille Paglia]] noted in 2004 that the book and popular [[HBO]] series ''[[Sex and the City]]'' had much in common in that the characters in both (who have similar lives) are "very much at the mercy of [[Rake (character)|cad]]s".<ref>{{cite news|last=Smith|first=Dinitia|title=Real-Life Questions In an Upscale Fantasy|newspaper=The New York Times|date=2004-02-01|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/01/tv/cover-story-real-life-questions-in-an-upscale-fantasy.html|accessdate=2014-07-15}}</ref>


During the late 1960s, [[Helen Gurley Brown]] hired Jaffe to write [[cultural]] pieces for ''[[Cosmopolitan Magazine|Cosmopolitan]]'', with a "Sex and the Single Girl" slant.{{fact|date=July 2019}}
During the late 1960s, [[Helen Gurley Brown]] hired Jaffe to write [[cultural]] pieces for ''[[Cosmopolitan Magazine|Cosmopolitan]]'', with a "Sex and the Single Girl" slant.{{citation needed|date=July 2019}}


In 1981, Jaffe published ''[[Mazes and Monsters (novel)|Mazes and Monsters]]'', which depicted a ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]''-like game that caused disorientation and hallucinations among its players and incited them to violence and attempted [[suicide]]. Written at a time of emerging anxiety over the effects of [[Role-playing game|role-playing games]] (RPGs), the book might have been loosely based on press accounts of the 1979 "[[steam tunnel incident]]" involving the disappearance of Michigan State University student and D&D aficionado [[James Dallas Egbert III]].<ref name="veugen2006">Veugen, Connie (2006). ''Here Be Dragons: Advent and History of Adventure Games''. Retrieved on 2018-05-18 from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Connie_Veugen/publication/316299839_Here_Be_Dragons_Advent_and_Hisory_of_Adventure_Games/links/58fa0d284585152edece8d90/Here-Be-Dragons-Advent-and-Hisory-of-Adventure-Games.pdf.</ref><ref name="nexus2010">Nexus, Jonny (2010). ''Dungeons & Dragons: A History & Overview''. Retrieved on 2018-05-18 from http://www.jonnynexus.com/NonWP/DungeonsAndDragons-HistoryAndOverview.pdf.</ref> With both concerns over and interest in role-playing games further stoked by the efforts of anti-RPG campaigners such as [[Patricia Pulling]], founder of the advocacy group [[Bothered About Dungeons & Dragons]] (B.A.D.D.), within a year of publication ''Mazes and Monsters'' was adapted by [[CBS]] into a [[made-for-TV movie]] called ''[[Mazes and Monsters]]'' ([[1982 in film|1982]]), featuring a 26-year-old [[Tom Hanks]] in one of his earliest appearances.
In 1981, Jaffe published ''[[Mazes and Monsters (novel)|Mazes and Monsters]]'', which depicted a ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]''-like game that caused disorientation and hallucinations among its players and incited them to violence and attempted [[suicide]]. Written at a time of emerging anxiety over the effects of [[role-playing game]]s (RPGs), the book might have been loosely based on press accounts of the 1979 "[[steam tunnel incident]]" involving the disappearance of Michigan State University student and D&D aficionado [[James Dallas Egbert III]].<ref name="veugen2006">Veugen, Connie (2006). ''Here Be Dragons: Advent and History of Adventure Games''. Retrieved on 2018-05-18 from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Connie_Veugen/publication/316299839_Here_Be_Dragons_Advent_and_Hisory_of_Adventure_Games/links/58fa0d284585152edece8d90/Here-Be-Dragons-Advent-and-Hisory-of-Adventure-Games.pdf.</ref><ref name="nexus2010">Nexus, Jonny (2010). ''Dungeons & Dragons: A History & Overview''. Retrieved on 2018-05-18 from http://www.jonnynexus.com/NonWP/DungeonsAndDragons-HistoryAndOverview.pdf.</ref> With both concerns over and interest in role-playing games further stoked by the efforts of anti-RPG campaigners such as [[Patricia Pulling]], founder of the advocacy group [[Bothered About Dungeons & Dragons]] (B.A.D.D.), within a year of publication ''Mazes and Monsters'' was adapted by [[CBS]] into a [[made-for-TV movie]] called ''[[Mazes and Monsters]]'' ([[1982 in film|1982]]), featuring a 26-year-old [[Tom Hanks]] in one of his earliest appearances.


In 2005, Jaffe died in [[London]] from [[cancer]], aged 74.<ref name=obit/>
In 2005, Jaffe died of [[cancer]] while vacationing in London, aged 74.<ref name=obit/>


==Bibliography==
==Works==
*''[[The Best of Everything (novel)|The Best of Everything]]'' (Simon & Schuster, 1958)
*''[[The Best of Everything (novel)|The Best of Everything]]'' (Simon & Schuster, 1958)
*''Away from Home'' (Simon & Schuster, 1960)
*''Away from Home'' (Simon & Schuster, 1960)
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[[Category:Jewish women writers]]
[[Category:Jewish women writers]]
[[Category:Writers from Brooklyn]]
[[Category:Writers from Brooklyn]]
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[[Category:Novelists from New York City]]
[[Category:People from the Upper East Side]]
[[Category:People from the Upper East Side]]
[[Category:Writers from Manhattan]]
[[Category:Radcliffe College alumni]]
[[Category:Radcliffe College alumni]]
[[Category:21st-century American novelists]]
[[Category:21st-century American novelists]]
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[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American women writers]]
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[[Category:Novelists from New York (state)]]
[[Category:Fawcett Publications]]
[[Category:Fawcett Publications]]
[[Category:20th-century American Jews]]
[[Category:21st-century American Jews]]

Latest revision as of 04:38, 31 January 2024

Rona Jaffe
Jaffe in the 1970s
Born(1931-06-12)June 12, 1931
New York City, U.S.
DiedDecember 30, 2005(2005-12-30) (aged 74)
London, England
Alma materRadcliffe College
OccupationNovelist
Years active1958–2003

Rona Jaffe (June 12, 1931 – December 30, 2005) was an American novelist who published numerous works from 1958 to 2003. During the 1960s, she also wrote cultural pieces for Cosmopolitan.

Early life and education

[edit]

Jaffe was born into a Jewish family in 1931 Brooklyn, New York City.[1] She was the only child of Samuel Jaffe, an elementary-school principal, and his first wife, Diana (née Ginsberg). Her grandfather was a construction magnate who built the Carlyle Hotel. Growing up in affluent circumstances on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, she attended the Dalton School before graduating from Radcliffe College in 1951.[2]

Career

[edit]

Jaffe wrote her first book, The Best of Everything (1958), while working as an associate editor at Fawcett Publications in the 1950s. It was quickly adapted into a film starring Joan Crawford, also called The Best of Everything (1959).[2] The book has been described as distinctly "pre-women's liberation" in the way it depicts women in the working world.[citation needed] Camille Paglia noted in 2004 that the book and popular HBO series Sex and the City had much in common in that the characters in both (who have similar lives) are "very much at the mercy of cads".[3]

During the late 1960s, Helen Gurley Brown hired Jaffe to write cultural pieces for Cosmopolitan, with a "Sex and the Single Girl" slant.[citation needed]

In 1981, Jaffe published Mazes and Monsters, which depicted a Dungeons & Dragons-like game that caused disorientation and hallucinations among its players and incited them to violence and attempted suicide. Written at a time of emerging anxiety over the effects of role-playing games (RPGs), the book might have been loosely based on press accounts of the 1979 "steam tunnel incident" involving the disappearance of Michigan State University student and D&D aficionado James Dallas Egbert III.[4][5] With both concerns over and interest in role-playing games further stoked by the efforts of anti-RPG campaigners such as Patricia Pulling, founder of the advocacy group Bothered About Dungeons & Dragons (B.A.D.D.), within a year of publication Mazes and Monsters was adapted by CBS into a made-for-TV movie called Mazes and Monsters (1982), featuring a 26-year-old Tom Hanks in one of his earliest appearances.

In 2005, Jaffe died of cancer while vacationing in London, aged 74.[2]

Works

[edit]
  • The Best of Everything (Simon & Schuster, 1958)
  • Away from Home (Simon & Schuster, 1960)
  • The Last of the Wizards ( juvenile) (Simon & Schuster, 1961)
  • Mr. Right Is Dead (novella and five short stories) (Simon & Schuster, 1965)
  • The Cherry in the Martini (Simon & Schuster, 1966)
  • The Fame Game (Random House, 1969)
  • The Other Woman (Morrow, 1972)
  • Family Secrets (Simon & Schuster, 1974)
  • The Last Chance (Simon & Schuster, 1976)
  • Class Reunion (Delacorte, 1979)
  • Mazes and Monsters (Delacorte, 1981)
  • After the Reunion (Delacorte, 1985)
  • An American Love Story (Delacorte, 1990)
  • The Cousins (Donald I. Fine, 1995) (Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club selection)
  • Five Women (Donald I. Fine, 1997)
  • The Road Taken (Dutton, 2000)
  • The Room-Mating Season (Dutton, 2003)

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Bergman, Jess (July 18, 2023). "Family Ties". Jewish Currents. Retrieved January 30, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c Owens, Mitchell (December 31, 2005). "Rona Jaffe, Author of Popular Novels, Is Dead at 74". The New York Times. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
  3. ^ Smith, Dinitia (February 1, 2004). "Real-Life Questions In an Upscale Fantasy". The New York Times. Retrieved July 15, 2014.
  4. ^ Veugen, Connie (2006). Here Be Dragons: Advent and History of Adventure Games. Retrieved on 2018-05-18 from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Connie_Veugen/publication/316299839_Here_Be_Dragons_Advent_and_Hisory_of_Adventure_Games/links/58fa0d284585152edece8d90/Here-Be-Dragons-Advent-and-Hisory-of-Adventure-Games.pdf.
  5. ^ Nexus, Jonny (2010). Dungeons & Dragons: A History & Overview. Retrieved on 2018-05-18 from http://www.jonnynexus.com/NonWP/DungeonsAndDragons-HistoryAndOverview.pdf.
[edit]
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