Jean Stein
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Jean Babette Stein (February 9, 1934 – April 30, 2017) was an American author and editor.


Early life

Stein was born to a Jewish family in Chicago. Her father was Jules C. Stein (1896–1981), co-founder of the
Music Corporation of America Music Corporation of America, formerly known as Universal Music Group Nashville, is Universal Music Group's country music subsidiary. It was officially opened in 1945 as MCA Nashville and Mercury Nashville which opened on New Year's Day 1950 a ...
(MCA) and the Jules Stein Eye Institute at
University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...
. Her mother, Doris J. Stein (1902–1984), established the Doris Jones Stein Foundation. Jean Stein's sister, Susan Shiva, died of
breast cancer Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...
in 1983, as did Doris Stein. Stein was educated at the Katharine Branson School in
Ross, California Ross is a small List of municipalities in California, incorporated town in Marin County, California, Marin County, California, United States, just north of San Francisco. Ross is located west-southwest of San Rafael, California, San Rafael, at ...
, then at Brillantmont International School in
Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...
, Switzerland, after which she graduated from Miss Hewitt's Classes in New York City. Thereafter, she spent two years at
Wellesley College Wellesley College is a Private university, private Women's colleges in the United States, historically women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henr ...
and then attended classes at the
University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...
(formerly known as the Sorbonne). While in Paris she interviewed
William Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer. He is best known for William Faulkner bibliography, his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, a stand-in fo ...
, with whom she had an affair, and, according to the historian Joel Williamson, offered the interview to ''
The Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published new works by Jack Kerouac, ...
'' in exchange for being made an editor there.


Career

Stein returned to New York and worked in 1955 as assistant to director
Elia Kazan Elias Kazantzoglou (, ; September 7, 1909 – September 28, 2003), known as Elia Kazan ( ), was a Greek-American film and theatre director, producer, screenwriter and actor, described by ''The New York Times'' as "one of the most honored and inf ...
on the original production of Tennessee Williams's
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...
winning play ''
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof ''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'' is a 1955 American three-act play by Tennessee Williams. The play, an adaptation of his 1952 short story "Three Players of a Summer Game", was written between 1953 and 1955. One of Williams's more famous works and his ...
''. Stein was the author of three books and a pioneer of the narrative form of oral history. Her final work was a cultural and political history of Los Angeles, ''West of Eden'', published by
Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...
in February 2016 where she included interviews with stars like
Arthur Miller Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are '' All My Sons'' (1947), '' Death of a Salesman'' (1 ...
,
Gore Vidal Eugene Luther Gore Vidal ( ; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his acerbic epigrammatic wit. His novels and essays interrogated the Social norm, social and sexual ...
, and Jacquelyn "Jackie" Park. In 1970, Stein authored, with
George Plimpton George Ames Plimpton (March 18, 1927 – September 25, 2003) was an American writer. He is known for his sports writing and for helping to found ''The Paris Review'', as well as his patrician demeanor and accent. He was known for " participat ...
as editor, a biography of
Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968), also known as RFK, was an American politician and lawyer. He served as the 64th United States attorney general from January 1961 to September 1964, and as a U.S. senator from New Yo ...
, titled ''American Journey: The Times of Robert Kennedy''. With Plimpton, Stein co-wrote the best-selling book ''Edie: An American Biography'' (later retitled ''Edie: American Girl''), a biography of socialite/actress and
Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...
muse
Edie Sedgwick Edith Minturn Sedgwick Post (April 20, 1943 – November 16, 1971) was an American actress, model and socialite who was one of Andy Warhol's superstars, starring in several of his short films during the 1960s.Watson, Steven (2003), "Factory Ma ...
, in 1982.
Norman Mailer Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American writer, journalist and filmmaker. In a career spanning more than six decades, Mailer had 11 best-selling books, at least ...
wrote of ''Edie'': "This is the book of the Sixties that we have been waiting for." Stein also worked as a magazine editor. In the late 1950s, she was an editor, with Plimpton, at ''The Paris Review''. From 1990 to 2004, she was editor of the literary/visual arts magazine ''Grand Street'' with art editor
Walter Hopps Walter "Chico" Hopps (May 3, 1932 – March 20, 2005) was an American museum director, gallerist, and curator of contemporary art. Hopps helped bring Los Angeles post-war artists to prominence during the 1960s, and later went on to redefine pract ...
. The magazine actively sought out international authors, visual artists, composers and scientists to bring to its readership.


Legacy

In 2017, Stein partnered with
PEN America PEN America (formerly PEN American Center), founded in 1922, and headquartered in New York City, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose goal is to raise awareness for the protection of free expression in the United States and worldwide th ...
to launch the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award and the PEN/Jean Stein Grant for Oral History to honor groundbreaking literature. The annual $75,000 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award, which is awarded to a book of fiction, memoir, essay, or nonfiction, “focuses global attention on remarkable books that propel experimentation, wit, strength, and the expression of wisdom.” Hisham Matar, a Libyan-American writer, won the 2017 inaugural award for his memoir, ''The Return.'' The $10,000 PEN/Jean Stein Grant for Oral History is awarded to support the completion of a “literary work of nonfiction that uses oral history to illuminate an event, individual, place, or movement.”


Personal life

Stein's first marriage in 1958 was to
William vanden Heuvel William Jacobus vanden Heuvel ( ; April 14, 1930 – June 15, 2021) was an American attorney, businessman, author and diplomat of Dutch descent. He was known for advising Robert F. Kennedy during the latter's campaigns for Senate in 1964 and pr ...
, a lawyer who served in the U.S. Justice Department under
Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968), also known as RFK, was an American politician and lawyer. He served as the 64th United States attorney general from January 1961 to September 1964, and as a U.S. senator from New Yo ...
, and who later also became a diplomat and author. Their first daughter, Katrina vanden Heuvel, was born in 1959; she was the editor and publisher of ''The Nation'' magazine. The couple's second daughter, Wendy vanden Heuvel, is an actress and producer in New York. She was also on the board of the ''52nd Street Project'', which matches inner-city youth with professional theater artists to create original dramatic works. From 1995 to 2007, Stein was married to
Torsten Wiesel Torsten Nils Wiesel (born 3 June 1924) is a Swedish Neurophysiology, neurophysiologist. With David H. Hubel, he received the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, for their discoveries concerning information processing in the visual system; ...
, a co-recipient with
David H. Hubel David Hunter Hubel (February 27, 1926 – September 22, 2013) was an American Canadian neurophysiologist noted for his studies of the structure and function of the visual cortex. He was co-recipient with Torsten Wiesel of the 1981 Nobel Pr ...
of the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Suffering from depression, Stein committed suicide by jumping from her Manhattan apartment on April 30, 2017. She was 83.


Selected works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stein, Jean 1934 births 2017 deaths American magazine editors American women magazine editors American biographers American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent Writers from Los Angeles University of Paris alumni Hewitt School alumni Wellesley College alumni Historians from New York (state) Suicides by jumping in New York City Stein family (MCA) 2017 suicides