Laura Z. Hobson

Laura Zametkin Hobson (June 19, 1900 – February 28, 1986) was an American writer, best known for her novels
''Gentleman's Agreement'' (1947) and ''Consenting Adult'' (1975).

Early life and career

Laura Kean Zametkin was born on June 19, 1900Some sources give Hobson's birthdate as June 18, others give June 19; Mrs. Hobson herself contributed to the confusion. Her twin sister, Alice, was born just before midnight on June 18, with Laura following on June 19, which was the date entered on both birth certificates. For years Hobson used June 18 and 19 interchangeably, "until hefinally decided that, mnemonically, 19 went with 1900 and stuck to 19 ever since." (Hobson, Laura Z. ''Laura Z: The Early Years and Years of Fulfillment''. New York: Primus/Donald I. Fine, 1987, p. 18.) in Manhattan, New York City. Raised in Jamaica, Queens, she was the twin daughter of Russian Jewish immigrants Mikhail (Michael) Zametkin (c. 1861-1935) and Adella Kean Zametkin (c. 1863-1931), both of whom were Socialists. Michael Zametkin was a labor organizer as well as co-founder (and first editor) of ''The Jewish Daily Forward''; Adella Zametkin was a columnist for the Yiddish newspaper ''Der Tog'' (''The Day'').Adella Kean Zametkin was a "liberated woman," long before the phrase was coined. She immigrated to the United States in 1888, where she met and married Michael Zametkin. In addition to her writing, she lectured, attended dental school, taught English to immigrant women, and raised three children, as well as a stepson. In 1921, when Hobson graduated from Cornell, Mrs. Zametkin traveled 300 miles to the commencement in the sidecar of her son Fred's motorcycle. (Mary McCune. ''The Whole Wide World, Without Limits: International Relief, Gender Politics, and American Jewish Women, 1893-1930''. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2005, pp. 165-166.)

After graduating from Cornell University in 1921, Laura Zametkin held various jobs, including stints as an advertising copywriter and as a reporter for the ''New York Post''. In 1934, she joined the promotional staff of Luce Publications (''Time'', ''Life'', and ''Fortune''), eventually becoming the first female director of promotion for ''Time''. Hobson was, in fact, the first woman hired at ''Time'' in a non-secretarial capacity.

In 1932, Hobson's fiction appeared in print for the first time, when ''The New Yorker'' published "The Perfect Man" ("a sketch more than a story") under the by-line "Laura Mount."For a time, beginning in the 1920s, Hobson was known as Laura Mount, "Mount" being the surname of a man with whom she lived. Three years later, she sold her first full-length story, "Hands Down," to ''Collier's''. She signed the story (published as "Play Something Simple") with a new by-line, Laura Z. Hobson. It was the beginning of a prolific career: over the next fifty years, Hobson would publish hundreds of stories and articles. Two of her memorable articles were "As I Listened to Archie Say 'Hebe'...," (1971) which was a critical look at the new television series All in the Family; and "1,200 Miles by Bike in Central Park" (1967), which described her newly-found pleasure in bicycling in her mid-sixties. Both were published by ''The New York Times''.

After 1940, Hobson devoted herself to writing. In 1941, she was offered $5,000.00 to write a novel; the offer came from Richard L. Simon of the Simon & Schuster publishing house. Although she had never considered writing a novel, she eventually accepted the offer. The resulting book, ''The Trespassers'', was the story of European refugees who are turned away from the United States during World War II, and was inspired by Hobson's own ultimately successful efforts during the war to obtain visas for a prominent European family. The book was published in 1943; reviews were mixed, but it was a modest best seller.Numerous sources claim that ''The Trespassers'' sold poorly. In fact, the book sold just under 20,000 copies, which--in 1943--was respectable, certainly for a first novel. (Hobson, ''Laura Z'', p. 323.)

''Gentleman's Agreement'' and international success

After being serialized in ''Cosmopolitan'',There was a time when ''Cosmopolitan'' was a ''literary'' magazine: as Hobson herself wrote in 1983, " 'Cosmopolitan'' in the middle forties, was nothing like the sex-saturated 'Cosmo''of today. It ran a great deal of fiction by Somerset Maugham, Louis Bromfield, Edna Ferber, Paul Gallico, ndPearl Buck...." (Hobson, ''Laura Z'', p. 387). Hobson's second novel, ''Gentleman's Agreement'', was published by Simon & Schuster on February 27, 1947. This story of a magazine writer who decides to research antisemitism by posing as a Jew was a worldwide success, translated into thirteen languages. On April 27, 1947, it reached number one on the ''New York Times'' best seller list, where it would remain for fourteen weeks. (According to Publishers Weekly, it was the third-best selling novel of 1947 at some two million copies.) The Jewish Book Council

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