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Correct highly misleading statement: She may have been *in Poland* but as a diplomat's child, took her father's nationality.
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{{Short description|French-American writer and literary critic (1930–2019)}}
{{Infobox person
{{Infobox person
|image =
| name = Francine du Plessix Gray
|image_size =
| image =
|caption =
| image_size =
| caption =
|birth_name =Francine du Plessix
| birth_name = Francine du Plessix
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1930|09|25}}
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1930|09|25}}
|birth_place = [[Warsaw, Poland]]
| birth_place = [[Warsaw, Poland]]
|death_date = {{Death date and age|2019|1|13|1930|09|25}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2019|1|13|1930|09|25}}
|death_place = [[Manhattan]], [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]], United States
| death_place = [[Manhattan]], [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]], United States
|death_cause =
| death_cause =
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| resting_place =
|resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}} -->
| resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}} -->
|residence = [[Cornwall Bridge, Connecticut]]<br>[[Warren, Connecticut]]
|nationality =
| nationality =
|other_names =
| other_names =
|citizenship = [[United States]]
| citizenship = [[France]], [[United States]]
|education = [[Bryn Mawr College]] 1948-50<br>[[Black Mountain College]] summers 1951-52<br>[[Barnard College]] [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] 1952
| education = [[Bryn Mawr College]] 1948–50<br>[[Black Mountain College]] summers 1951–52<br>[[Barnard College]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]]) 1952
|alma_mater =
| alma_mater =
|occupation = [[Author]]
| occupation = [[Author]]
|years_active =
| years_active =
|employer =
| employer =
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| known_for =
|home_town =
| height =
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|title =
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| party = [[Democratic party (United States)|Democratic]]
|term =
|predecessor =
| opponents =
|successor =
| boards =
|party = [[Democratic party (United States)|Democratic]]
| spouse = [[Cleve Gray]]
|opponents =
| partner =
| children = Thaddeus Ives Gray<br>Luke Alexander Gray
|boards =
| parents = Bertrand Jochaud du Plessix<br>Tatiana Yakovleva du Plessix Liberman<br>[[Alexander Liberman]] (stepfather)
|spouse = [[Cleve Gray]]
|partner =
| callsign =
|children = 2
| website =
| signature =
|parents = [[Bertrand Jochaud du Plessix]]<br>Tatiana Yakovleva du Plessix Liberman<br>[[Alexander Liberman]] [[stepfather]]
|callsign =
| networth =
|website =
| relations =
|signature =
|footnotes = <ref name=ContempBio>
Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2008. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC
Document Number: H1000038983.
Entry updated: 20 March 2006.
Fee. Accessed 2008-10-31.</ref><ref name=AtlasPressRelease2008>
{{cite web |url=http://atlasandco.com/new-releases/madame_de_stael/
|title=New Releases - Atlas & Co. |accessdate=31 October 2008
|author= |last= |first= |authorlink= |date= |work=
|publisher=[[Atlas & Co.]] |pages=
|quote=Atlas is an independent publisher of quality nonfiction. }}
</ref>
|networth =
|relations =
}}
}}


'''Francine du Plessix Gray''' (September 25, 1930 – January 13, 2019), was a French-born American [[Pulitzer Prize]]-nominated writer and literary critic.
'''Francine du Plessix Gray''' (September 25, 1930 – January 13, 2019) was a French-American [[Pulitzer Prize]]–nominated writer and literary critic.

==Biography==


=== Early life, family background, and education ===
== Early life 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]].<ref name=McAlpin2005/><ref>
She was born on September 25, 1930, in [[Warsaw, Poland]], where her father, [[Vicomte]] Bertrand Jochaud du Plessix, was a 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]].<ref name=McAlpin2005/><ref>
{{cite web |url=http://www.ordredelaliberation.fr/fr_compagnon/310.html
{{cite web |url=http://www.ordredelaliberation.fr/fr_compagnon/310.html
|title=Bertrand Jochaud du Plessix |accessdate=31 October 2008 |author= |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors=
|title=Bertrand Jochaud du Plessix |accessdate=31 October 2008 |date=7 July 2004
|work=Ordre de la Libération |language=fr
|date=7 July 2004
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021123174118/http://www.ordredelaliberation.fr/fr_compagnon/310.html|archive-date=2002-11-23|url-status=dead
|work=Ordre de la Libération |publisher= |pages= |language=French
}}
|doi= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |quote= }}
</ref>
</ref>


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.<ref name=Bellafante2005/><ref name=Maier1997>{{cite book |last=Maier |first=Thomas
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.<ref name=Bellafante2005/><ref name=Maier1997>{{cite book |last=Maier |first=Thomas
|authorlink=Thomas Maier
|author-link=Thomas Maier
|coauthors= |editor= |others=
|title=Newhouse: All the Glitter, Power, and Glory of America's Richest Media Empire and the Secretive Man Behind It
|title=Newhouse: All the Glitter, Power, and Glory of America's Richest Media Empire and the Secretive Man Behind It
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CduybslNsucC&q=Bertrand++du+Plessix&pg=PA53
|origyear= |month=
|accessdate=2008-11-01 |year=1997
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CduybslNsucC&pg=PA53&lpg=PA53&dq=Bertrand++du+Plessix&source=web&ots=A6JeZ3fYWN&sig=J7vma8OnFrSFrAVGfJz4a-1en7g&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=11&ct=result#PPA53,M1
|accessdate=2008-11-01 |edition= |series= |date= |year=1997
|publisher=[[Big Earth Publishing]]
|publisher=[[Big Earth Publishing]]
|location= |isbn=978-1-55566-191-5
|isbn=978-1-55566-191-5
}}
|oclc= |doi= |id= |pages= |chapter= |chapterurl= |quote= }}
</ref><ref name=NYTobitTitania>
</ref><ref name=NYTobitTitania>
{{cite news |first=Peter B.
{{cite news |first=Peter B.
|last=Flint |title= Tatiana du Plessix Liberman Dies; Leading Designer of Hats Was 84
|last=Flint |authorlink=
|title= Tatiana du Plessix Liberman Dies; Leading Designer of Hats Was 84
|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CEEDE1438F93AA15757C0A967958260
|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CEEDE1438F93AA15757C0A967958260
|work=[[New York Times]]
|work=[[The New York Times]]
|publisher= |location= |id= |pages= |page=
|date=29 April 1991
|date=29 April 1991
|accessdate=31 October 2008
|accessdate=31 October 2008
}}
|author= |coauthors= |quote= |archiveurl= |archivedate= }}
</ref>
</ref>


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>
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>
Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2008. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC
{{cite news |first=Heller |last=Mcalpin |authorlink=Heller Mcalpin
Document Number: H1000038983.
Entry updated: 20 March 2006.
Fee. Accessed 2008-10-31.</ref><ref name=McAlpin2005>
{{cite news |first=Heller |last=Mcalpin |author-link=Heller Mcalpin
|title=Living lives of glamour in the midst of chaos
|title=Living lives of glamour in the midst of chaos
|url=http://articles.latimes.com/2005/may/22/books/bk-mcalpin22
|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-may-22-bk-mcalpin22-story.html
|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]
|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]
|publisher= |location= |id= |pages= |page=R-3
|page=R-3
|date=22 May 2005
|date=22 May 2005
|accessdate=31 October 2008
|access-date=31 October 2008
}}
|author= |coauthors= |quote= |archiveurl= |archivedate= }}
</ref><ref name=Bellafante2005>
</ref><ref name=Bellafante2005>
{{cite news |first=Ginia |last=Bellafante |authorlink=Ginia Bellafante
{{cite news |first=Ginia |last=Bellafante |author-link=Ginia Bellafante
|title=Francine du Plessix Gray: A Back Turned On the High Life
|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=
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/28/garden/28gray.html,%20Marc&pagewanted=all&position=
|work=[[New York Times]]
|work=[[The New York Times]]
|publisher= |location= |id= |pages= |page=
|date=28 April 2005
|date=28 April 2005
|accessdate=2 November 2008
|accessdate=2 November 2008
}}
|author= |coauthors= |quote= |archiveurl= |archivedate= }}
</ref>
</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==
==Career==
From 1952 to 1954, Gray worked as a night-desk reporter for [[United Press International]] in New York City. From 1954 to 1955, she was an editorial assistant for ''[[Réalités (French magazine)|Réalités]]'', a French magazine, [[Paris]]. She became a [[freelance writer]] in 1955. From 1964 to 1966, she was a book editor for [[Art in America]] in New York City. In 1968, she became a staff writer for ''[[The New Yorker]]'' with [[Robert Gottlieb]] as her [[editor in chief|editor]]. In 1975, she was a distinguished visiting professor at [[City College of New York]]. In 1981, she was a visiting lecturer at [[Saybrook College]], [[Yale University]]. Since 1983, she was an adjunct professor for the School of Fine Arts at [[Columbia University]]. Since 1986, she was a ferris professor at [[Princeton University]]. She became an Annenberg fellow at [[Brown University]] in 1997.<ref name=ContempBio/>
From 1952 to 1954, Gray worked as a night-desk reporter for [[United Press International]] in New York City. From 1954 to 1955, she was an editorial assistant for ''[[Réalités (French magazine)|Réalités]]'', a French magazine, [[Paris]]. She became a [[freelance writer]] in 1955. From 1964 to 1966, she was a book editor for [[Art in America]] in New York City. In 1968, she became a staff writer for ''[[The New Yorker]]'' with [[Robert Gottlieb]] as her [[editor in chief|editor]]. In 1975, she was a distinguished visiting professor at [[City College of New York]]. In 1981, she was a visiting lecturer at [[Saybrook College]], [[Yale University]]. Since 1983, she was an adjunct professor for the School of Fine Arts at [[Columbia University]]. Since 1986, she was a ferris professor at [[Princeton University]]. She became an Annenberg fellow at [[Brown University]] in 1997.<ref name=ContempBio/>


She was a member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Letters]], [[Authors Guild]], Institute of Humanities at [[New York University]],<ref name=ContempBio/> and [[International PEN]].
==Memberships==

*[[American Academy of Arts and Letters]]
== Personal life ==
*[[Authors Guild]]
On 23 April 1957, she married the [[Painting|painter]] [[Cleve Gray]] and until his death they lived together in [[Connecticut]]. They had two sons, Luke and Thaddeus Ives Gray.<ref name=ContempBio/><ref>{{Cite news|title=Luke Gray—Deciphering the Complexity of the Human Spirit Through Imagery|url=http://www.countytimes.com/entertainment/luke-gray-deciphering-the-complexity-of-the-human-spirit-through-imagery/article_8e0fbeb0-4b9d-5745-8f7f-018ab5f7cf0d.html|access-date=2020-07-25|newspaper=Ct Insider|date=27 August 2014 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=1991-11-24|title=Allison Bottom To Wed in April|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/24/style/allison-bottom-to-wed-in-april.html|access-date=2020-07-25|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> 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=The New York Times |date=January 14, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |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 |magazine=The New Yorker |date=January 15, 2019}}</ref>
*Institute of Humanities at [[New York University]]<ref name=ContempBio/>
*[[International PEN]]


==Awards==
==Awards==
*Putnam Creative Writing Award from [[Barnard College]], 1952
*Putnam Creative Writing Award from [[Barnard College]], 1952
*National Catholic Book Award from Catholic Press Association, 1971, for ''Divine Disobedience: Profiles in Catholic Radicalism''
*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''
*Front Page Award from Newswomen's Club of New York, 1972, for ''Hawaii: The Sugar-Coated Fortress''<ref name=NYT-19721122>{{Cite news |title=Newswomen Name Winners of Awards |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/11/22/archives/newswomen-name-winners-of-awards.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=November 22, 1972 |access-date=November 10, 2020 |page=41 |volume=CXXII |issue=41941 |edition=Late City}}</ref>
*[[LL.D.]]
*[[LL.D.]]
::[[City University of New York]], 1981
::[[City University of New York]], 1981
Line 131: Line 111:
::[[St. Mary's College of California]]
::[[St. Mary's College of California]]
::[[University of Hartford]]
::[[University of Hartford]]
*[[Guggenheim fellow]] 1991-92
*[[Guggenheim fellow]] 1991–92
*[[National Book Critics Circle Award]] for [[autobiography]], 2006, for ''Them: A Memoir of Parents''.<ref name=ContempBio/>
*[[National Book Critics Circle Award]] for [[autobiography]], 2006, for ''Them: A Memoir of Parents''.<ref name=ContempBio/>


==Books==
==Books==
*Gray, F. d. P. (1970). ''Divine disobedience: profiles in Catholic radicalism''. New York: [[Alfred A. Knopf|Knopf]].
*''Divine disobedience: profiles in Catholic radicalism''. New York: [[Alfred A. Knopf|Knopf]], 1970.
*Gray, F. d. P. (1972). ''Hawaii: the sugar-coated fortress''. New York: [[Random House]].
*''Hawaii: the sugar-coated fortress''. New York: [[Random House]], 1972.
*Gray, F. d. P. (1976). ''Lovers and tyrants''. New York: [[Simon & Schuster]].
*''Lovers and tyrants''. New York: [[Simon & Schuster]], 1976.
*Gray, F. d. P. (1981). ''World without end: a novel''. New York: Simon & Schuster.
*''World without end: a novel''. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1981.
*Gray, F. d. P. (1985). ''October blood''. New York: Simon & Schuster.
*''October blood''. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1985.
*Gray, F. d. P. (1987). ''ADAM & EVE and the CITY''. Simon & Schuster.
*''ADAM & EVE and the CITY''. Simon & Schuster, 1987.
*Gray, F. d. P. (1990). ''Soviet women: walking the tightrope''. New York: [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]].
*''Soviet women: walking the tightrope''. New York: [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]], 1990.
*Gray, F. d. P. (1994). ''Rage and fire: a life of [[Louise Colet]], pioneer feminist, literary star, [[Flaubert]]'s muse''. New York: Simon & Schuster.
*''Rage and fire: a life of [[Louise Colet]], pioneer feminist, literary star, [[Flaubert]]'s muse''. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994.
*Gray, F. d. P. (1998). ''At home with the [[Marquis de Sade]]: a life''. New York, NY: [[Simon & Schuster]].
*''At home with the [[Marquis de Sade]]: a life''. New York, NY: [[Simon & Schuster]], 1998.
*Gray, F. d. P. (2001). ''[[Simone Weil]]''. New York: [[Viking Press]].
*''[[Simone Weil]]''. New York: [[Viking Press]], 2001.
*{{cite book|year=2005|title=Them: a memoir of parents.|place=New York|publisher=[[Penguin Press]]|isbn=978-0-14-303719-4|url=https://archive.org/details/them00fran|url-access=registration}}
*{{cite book
*''[[Madame de Staël]]''. [[Atlas & Co.]] 2008. {{ISBN|978-1-934633-17-5}}.<ref>
| author=Gray, F. d. P.
{{cite news |first=Carolyn |last=See |author-link=Carolyn See
| 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
|title=French Letters' Open Book
|work=[[Washington Post]]
|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]
|page=C2
|publisher= |location= |id= |pages= |page=C2
|date=31 October 2008
|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!
|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!
}}
}}
Line 166: Line 138:
==References==
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{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.


==External links==
==External links==
*[https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/28/garden/28gray.html NY Times Article, ''At Home with Francine du Plessix Gray: A Back Turned On the High Life'']
*[https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/28/garden/28gray.html ''New York Times'' article, ''At Home with Francine du Plessix Gray: A Back Turned On the High Life'']
*[https://books.google.com/books?as_auth=Francine+du+Plessix+Gray Francine du Plessix Gray's books online]
*[https://books.google.com/books?as_auth=Francine+du+Plessix+Gray Francine du Plessix Gray's books online]
*[http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2006/03/19/qa_francine_du_plessix_gray/ Boston Globe interview with Gray]
*[http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2006/03/19/qa_francine_du_plessix_gray/ ''Boston Globe'' interview with Gray]
*[http://www.nybooks.com/authors/1467 NY Review of Books Gray Bibliography]
*[http://www.nybooks.com/authors/1467 ''New York Review of Books'' Gray Bibliography]


{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:American women writers]]
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[[Category:Rome Prize winners]]
[[Category:Spence School alumni]]
[[Category:Spence School alumni]]
[[Category:Bryn Mawr College alumni]]
[[Category:Bryn Mawr College alumni]]
[[Category:The New Yorker staff writers]]
[[Category:The New Yorker staff writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American women]]
[[Category:Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters]]
[[Category:Black Mountain poets]]

Latest revision as of 02:45, 15 August 2024

Francine du Plessix Gray
Born
Francine du Plessix

(1930-09-25)September 25, 1930
Warsaw, Poland
DiedJanuary 13, 2019(2019-01-13) (aged 88)
Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States
CitizenshipFrance, United States
EducationBryn Mawr College 1948–50
Black Mountain College summers 1951–52
Barnard College (BA) 1952
OccupationAuthor
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseCleve Gray
ChildrenThaddeus Ives Gray
Luke Alexander Gray
Parent(s)Bertrand Jochaud du Plessix
Tatiana Yakovleva du Plessix Liberman
Alexander Liberman (stepfather)

Francine du Plessix Gray (September 25, 1930 – January 13, 2019) was a French-American Pulitzer Prize–nominated writer and literary critic.

Early life and education

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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.[1][2]

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.[3][4][5]

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.[6][1][3]

Career

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From 1952 to 1954, Gray worked as a night-desk reporter for United Press International in New York City. From 1954 to 1955, she was an editorial assistant for Réalités, a French magazine, Paris. She became a freelance writer in 1955. From 1964 to 1966, she was a book editor for Art in America in New York City. In 1968, she became a staff writer for The New Yorker with Robert Gottlieb as her editor. In 1975, she was a distinguished visiting professor at City College of New York. In 1981, she was a visiting lecturer at Saybrook College, Yale University. Since 1983, she was an adjunct professor for the School of Fine Arts at Columbia University. Since 1986, she was a ferris professor at Princeton University. She became an Annenberg fellow at Brown University in 1997.[6]

She was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Authors Guild, Institute of Humanities at New York University,[6] and International PEN.

Personal life

[edit]

On 23 April 1957, she married the painter Cleve Gray and until his death they lived together in Connecticut. They had two sons, Luke and Thaddeus Ives Gray.[6][7][8] Francine du Plessix Gray died on January 13, 2019, in Manhattan.[9][10]

Awards

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  • 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[11]
  • 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

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  • Divine disobedience: profiles in Catholic radicalism. New York: Knopf, 1970.
  • Hawaii: the sugar-coated fortress. New York: Random House, 1972.
  • Lovers and tyrants. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1976.
  • World without end: a novel. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1981.
  • October blood. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1985.
  • ADAM & EVE and the CITY. Simon & Schuster, 1987.
  • Soviet women: walking the tightrope. New York: Doubleday, 1990.
  • Rage and fire: a life of Louise Colet, pioneer feminist, literary star, Flaubert's muse. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994.
  • At home with the Marquis de Sade: a life. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1998.
  • Simone Weil. New York: Viking Press, 2001.
  • Them: a memoir of parents. New York: Penguin Press. 2005. ISBN 978-0-14-303719-4.
  • Madame de Staël. Atlas & Co. 2008. ISBN 978-1-934633-17-5.[12]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Mcalpin, Heller (22 May 2005). "Living lives of glamour in the midst of chaos". Los Angeles Times. p. R-3. Retrieved 31 October 2008.
  2. ^ "Bertrand Jochaud du Plessix". Ordre de la Libération (in French). 7 July 2004. Archived from the original on 2002-11-23. Retrieved 31 October 2008.
  3. ^ a b Bellafante, Ginia (28 April 2005). "Francine du Plessix Gray: A Back Turned On the High Life". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 November 2008.
  4. ^ Maier, Thomas (1997). Newhouse: All the Glitter, Power, and Glory of America's Richest Media Empire and the Secretive Man Behind It. Big Earth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-55566-191-5. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
  5. ^ Flint, Peter B. (29 April 1991). "Tatiana du Plessix Liberman Dies; Leading Designer of Hats Was 84". The New York Times. Retrieved 31 October 2008.
  6. ^ a b c d e Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2008. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC Document Number: H1000038983. Entry updated: 20 March 2006. Fee. Accessed 2008-10-31.
  7. ^ "Luke Gray—Deciphering the Complexity of the Human Spirit Through Imagery". Ct Insider. 27 August 2014. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
  8. ^ "Allison Bottom To Wed in April". The New York Times. 1991-11-24. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
  9. ^ William, Grimes (January 14, 2019). "Francine du Plessix Gray, Searching Novelist and Journalist, Is Dead at 88". The New York Times. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
  10. ^ Gopnik, Adam (January 15, 2019). "Becoming Francine du Plessix Gray". The New Yorker. Retrieved January 16, 2018.
  11. ^ "Newswomen Name Winners of Awards". The New York Times. Vol. CXXII, no. 41941 (Late City ed.). November 22, 1972. p. 41. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
  12. ^ See, Carolyn (31 October 2008). "French Letters' Open Book". The Washington Post. p. C2. [She] 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!
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