Features October 1984
The life and death of Lillian Hellman
On Lillian Hellman's life and writing.
I am not interested in the degree to which she told the literal truth.
—Marsha Norman, in The New York Times (August 26, 1984)
I never took Lillian’s politics very seriously . . .
—Robert Brustein, in The New Republic (August 13/20, 1984)
Of the many remarkable things to be noted about the life of Lillian Hellman, who died on June 30, none was more remarkable than the quality of the sentiment that greeted its end. Even as the obligatory eulogies were delivered, they seemed to contain an unmistakable note of embarrassment—a grudging awareness that at the time of her death the reputation of Lillian Hellman was well on its way to becoming a shambles. Only in Robert Brustein’s bizarre tribute in The New Republic, however, was this note given explicit expression.
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