113.
The lovers in Malraux’s Man’s Fate.
Acknowledgements
Writing this autobiography spanned many years, and in that time numerous people worked with Barney in all capacities—scanning photos, typing, filing, researching, editing—and all the tasks and changes that have gone into a final manuscript. I wish that I could recall all the staff and interns and volunteers who helped to shape this book. Unfortunately I cannot. But I want all to know how much Barney and I appreciated their time and commitment and willingness to do whatever needed to be done. I am deeply grateful.
I would also like to thank those whose commitment and support were especially helpful in moving this manuscript forward. It was an ongoing, intensive project from beginning to end. And now we have reached the light at the end of the tunnel.
My thanks go to Guy Baldwin; Edward Beckett, executor, Estate of Samuel Beckett; Tony Bly; Steven Brower; William Bryant; Jim Feast; Jules Geller; Joy Glass; Mary Kaplan and the J. M. Kaplan Foundation; Kathy Kiernan; Elena Landriscina; Sandy Meehan; Richard Milazzo; Caroline Milne; Laura Morris, archivist, Joan Mitchell Foundation; Brad Morrow; Lucy Mulroney, Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University; Michelle Myers; Suresh Nayak; Catrina Neiman; New York State Foundation of the Arts; Karla Nielson, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University; C. S. O’Brien; John Oakes; Kenzaburō Ōe; Lois Oppenheim; Ignacio Ponce de Leon; Chantal Rosset; Elisabeth Scharlatt, Algonquin Books; Margarita Shalina; Rami Shamir; Frank Shouldice; Nat Sobel; Robert N. Solomon; Jerry Tallmer; Jim Wade; and Ramsi Woodcock.
—Astrid Myers Rosset
East Hampton, New York
February 2016
Portrait by Astrid Myers Rosset.
Appendix A
Timeline
1922
May 28: Barnet Lee Rosset Jr. born at Michael Reese Hospital, Chicago, IL
1925
Feb. 12: Joan Mitchell born in Chicago
1928
July 21: maternal grandfather Roger Tansey dies
1930
June 13: maternal grandmother Margaret Flannery Tansey dies
1931
Attends Camp Kawaga, Minocqua, WI (summers 1931–33)
1932
Father buys Metropolitan Trust Co.
1934
January 21: Date of earliest intelligence report on BR obtained through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
Attends Cheley Summer Camp, Estes Park, CO (summers 1934–36)
1935
Enrolls at Francis W. Parker School, Chicago
Travels to Hawaii with parents
1936
Creates the Sommunist, later Anti-Everything, school newspaper with Haskell Wexler
1937
July: Visits Europe with parents. England, France, Italy, Switzerland
December: Sent as delegate to the American Student Union at Vassar College
1938
First class with Alfred Adler, most important teacher in school life
Arrested for speeding on March 11, according to FBI
1939
Wins three events at Private School Track Championship
1940
Graduates from Francis W. Parker School. President of senior class and co- captain of football team with Haskell Wexler
Enrolls at Swarthmore College
1941
Buys Tropic of Cancer at Gotham Book Mart, New York City
“Henry Miller vs. Our Way of Life” essay
Transfers to University of Chicago after completing academic year at Swarthmore. Leaves after one quarter
Signs protest to US President and Congress against existing or proposed legal restriction on Communist Party or individual Communist activities
Francis W. Parker class reunion
Arrested for speeding on August 2, according to FBI
Transfers to UCLA
1942
Enlists in US Army
Inducted at Camp Grant, IL and assigned to Camp Adair, Corvallis, OR where the 96th Infantry Division is training. Spends eight months in Company I, 383rd Infantry Regiment
Marriage of Nancy Ashenhurst and Haskell Wexler
1943
Graduates from Officer’s Training School in VA as Second Lieutenant
Signal Corps Pictorial Service. Assigned to Army Pictorial Service and receives training at Army Film School in Astoria, NY. Accredited as Photographic Unit Commander
Correspondence from Teru Osato intercepted by Army Intelligence
Shipped out from Newport News, VA. Arrives in Bombay, India after a forty-three day trip
1944
Arrives in India. Sent to Camp Kanchapara, thirty miles outside Calcutta, awaits assignment
Transferred to 164th Signal Photo Company in New Delhi, India
Orders to go to Kunming, China
Kweiyang
1945
Recommendation is made for Bronze Star for his role in the capture of Liuchow Airfield
Recommendation disapproved
December 27: Arrives in New York Harbor after twenty-two day trip via Suez Canal, Mediterranean Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean
1946
March 29: Discharged from US Army, returns to Chicago
Resumes friendship with Haskell Wexler and Nancy Ashenhurst
Meets Joan Mitchell in bar
Enrolls at University of Chicago
Briefly a member of Communist Party
Travels to Mexico to visit Joan Mitchell
1947
Moves to New York City
Establishes Target Films at 1600 Broadway
Production of Strange Victory begins
Joan Mitchell graduates from Art Institute of Chicago and moves in with BR in Brooklyn
1948
Joan Mitchell moves to Paris, BR joins her there for the month of August
Strange Victory premieres in NYC on September 24
BR and JM travel to Prague, return to Paris at Christmas
1949
BR and JM drive to Spain to see Guernica
BR and JM are married at Le Lavandou, France
Return to NYC, residing at Chelsea Hotel before renting a small apartment on West Eleventh Street
1950
Works at the American Association for the UN as a volunteer while seeking employment at UN
BR and JM move to 57 West Ninth Street
1951
Enrolls at New School for Social Research, NYC
Break with JM
Robert Phelps and John Balcomb sell their shares in Grove Press to BR and father for $3,000
1952
B.A. from New School
Divorces JM on May 13
Meets Donald Allen at Columbia University publishing class
Purchases East Hampton, NY home designed by Pierre Chareau for Robert Motherwell
1953
August: marries Hannelore (Loly) Eckert
Moves Grove Press from Ninth Street to 795 Broadway
Meets Samuel Beckett and Jean Genet in Paris
Beckett correspondence begins
1954
Father Barnet L. Rosset Sr. dies on September 5
1955
Son Peter Rosset born
1956
First issue of The Evergreen Review published
Divorces Hannelore (Loly) Eckert
1959
JM relocates to France
Rejects Tolkein’s The Hobbit Interviews Italian publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli concerning censorship on WNET Radio
1961
Arrives in Brooklyn to be arrested for publication of Tropic of Cancer; grand jury refuses to indict
1962
Chicago Tropic of Cancer trial
1963
Testifies at obscenity trial for Kerouac’s The Subterraneans on behalf of Feltrinelli
1964
Produces Beckett’s Film. Beckett visits BR in NYC
Naked Lunch trial
1965
> Marries Cristina Agnini
1966
Purchases film distributor Cinema 16 for $49,500
Purchases Mid-Century Book Club
1967
Daughter Tansey Rosset born
Moves Grove Press to 53 East Eleventh Street
BR and Fred Jordan travel to Bolivia after execution of Che Guevara
1968
Grove Press offices bombed
1969
Son Beckett Rosset born
Lectures at University of Michigan, “The Case Against Censorship”
Grove Press financial peak, 163 titles published
Grove purchases building at corner of Bleecker and Mercer Streets
1970
Grove offices occupied by female activists
Grove unionization bid fails
Grove Press v. Maryland State Board of Censors re: I Am Curious (Yellow)
1971
Evergreen Review ceases publication
US Supreme Court upholds Maryland ruling declaring I Am Curious (Yellow) obscene
Agreement with Random House to distribute Grove Press, Black Cat, and Evergreen hardcover titles
1972
Grove downsizes to twenty-four employees
1975
Submits FOIA request to CIA for records relating to Grove Press and/or BR
1979
Divorces Cristina Agnini
Richard Avedon photographs Samuel Beckett and Beckett Rosset in France
Travels to Vétheuil, France with Lisa Krug, daughter Tansey, and son Peter to visit Joan Mitchell
Mother Mary Tansey Rosset dies
1980
Henry Miller dies on June 8
Marries Elizabeth (Lisa) Krug
1982
Daughter Chantal Rosset born
1985
Sells Grove Press to George Weidenfeld and Ann Getty for $2 million. Grove is a public company and payment is to stockholders
1986
Leaves Grove Press
Receives original typescript of Beckett’s Eleuthéria in Paris
Files $7 million lawsuit against Weidenfeld and Getty, who counter-sue
Starts Rosset & Co., Inc.
1987
Delivers commencement address at Hampshire College
Starts Blue Moon Books
1988
Wins PEN publisher citation
1989
Censorship battles with Rev. Donald Wildmon and his American Family Association, Waldenbooks, and K-Mart
Beckett dedicates Stirrings Still to BR
Publishes Stirrings Still, Beckett refuses to work further with Grove Weidenfeld
Beckett dies on December 22
1991
Divorces Lisa Krug
1992
Joan Mitchell dies on October 30
1993
Fight with Beckett estate to publish Eleuthéria begins
1994
Relieved of position of US theatrical agent for Samuel Beckett
BR and Astrid Myers attend Kenzaburō Ōe’s Nobel Prize ceremony
Establishes Foxrock, Inc.
1995
Foxrock publishes first book, Beckett’s Eleuthéria
1996
Returns to Kunming, China with Astrid Myers
1998
Return of The Evergreen Review as an Internet publication. Website established
1999
Named by French government Commandeur de l’ordre des arts et des lettres
2001
Grove publishes Grove Press Reader
2002
Exhibition of China photos from WWII, Janos Gat Gallery, NYC
2007
Marries Astrid Myers
2012
Dies on February 21 in New York City at age 89
Appendix B
Grove Press Milestones
1954
Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot
Jean Genet, The Maids and Deathwatch
1955
Frederico Garcia Lorca, Poet in New York
1956
Donald Keene (editor), Anthology of Japanese Literature
Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan
1957
Evergreen Review, No. 1 (Barney Rosset, ed.)
Evergreen Review, No. 2, San Francisco Scene (Donald Allen, ed.)
1958
Antonin Artaud, Theatre and Its Double
Eugene Ionesco, The Bald Soprano, et al.
Jack Kerouac, The Subterraneans
Alain Robbe-Grillet, The Voyeur
1959
Brendan Behan, The Hostage
e. e. cummings, 100 Selected Poems
D.H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley’s Lover
Juan Rulfo, Pedro Paramo: A Novel of Mexico
The Eye of Mexico, #7 (Octavio Paz, ed.)
1960
Donald Allen (ed.), The New American Poetry
Samuel Beckett, Krapp’s Last Tape
1961
Samuel Beckett, Happy Days
Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn
Pablo Neruda, Selected Poems of Pablo Neruda
Octavio Paz, The Labyrinth of Solitude
Harold Pinter, The Birthday Party and The Room
Edgar Snow, Red Star Over China
Evergreen Review, No. 21, The German Scene
1962
John Arden, Sergeant Musgrave’s Dance
Jorge Luis Borges, Ficciones
William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch
Robert Gover, One Hundred Dollar Misunderstanding
John Rechy, City of Night
1963
Samuel Beckett, Complete Poems in English and French
Bertolt Brecht, Mother Courage
1964
Eric Berne, Games People Play
Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera
Rolf Hochbuth, The Deputy
Hubert Selby, Jr., Last Exit to Brooklyn
1965
Franz Fanon, Wretched of the Earth
Joe Orton, Entertaining Mr. Sloane
Pauline Réage, Story of O
The Marquis de Sade, Justine
Malcolm X, The Autobiography of Malcolm X
1966
Bertolt Brecht, The Good Woman of Setzuan and Caucasian Chalk Circle
Mario Vargas Llosa, The Time of the Hero
1967
Jorge Luis Borges, A Personal Anthology
Rosset: My Life in Publishing and How I Fought Censorship Page 32
