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For nearly 50 years, Lillian Ross has been writing remarkable literary journalism for The New Yorker. Her unerring "Talk of the Town" pieces and her incisive profiles have won her a legion of admirers. Many credit The New Yorker for inspiring the refinement of literary journalism, and Ross was an integral part of that effort.In that time, Ross has built up an arsenal of journalistic techniques, which she shares here in some detail. She discusses her feelings about journalism, praising her New Yorker colleagues (notably the late editor William Shawn) and offering her definition of journalism (factual reporting built of good writing and singular humor). The majority of the book is filled with Ross's deconstruction of some of her best-loved pieces, including 1949's "Come In, Lassie!" (about politics in the film business); 1950's "How Do You Like It Now, Gentlemen?" (a profile of Ernest Hemingway); and 1960's "The Yellow Bus" (concerning a group of tourists visiting New York City).
Once upon a time I used to revere Lillian Ross for her acerbic portrait of Hemingway and her up and down account of the making of John Huston's film of The Red Badge of Courage.Now when I read her work, in the New Yorker or in omnibuses like this one, I see she is not a great writer, but am ordinary one, and in REPORTING BACK a woman who cannot stop herself from patting herself on the back till it hurts. Don't think I've ever read such a self-congratulatory work. How do people stand her? She says she doesn't like to write about people unless she likes them, but from her writing, one gets the impression she feels superior to everyone, always quoting the little non sequiturs people make by mistake, to make them look stupid.The idol has feet of clay.
