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Janet Maslin

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Janet Maslin
Born (1949-08-12) August 12, 1949 (age 74)
New York City, U.S.
EducationUniversity of Rochester, 1970
OccupationJournalist
Years active1970–present
EmployerThe New York Times
Known forFilm and literary criticism
Spouse(s)Jon Landau
Benjamin Cheever
Children2

Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for The New York Times.[1] She served as a Times film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000, Maslin helped found the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, New York. She is president of its board of directors.[2][3]

Education

Maslin graduated from the University of Rochester in 1970 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics.[4] She began her career as a rock music critic for The Boston Phoenix and became a film editor and critic for that publication. She also worked as a freelancer for Rolling Stone and worked at Newsweek.[5]

Career

Maslin became a film critic for The New York Times in 1977. From December 1, 1994, she replaced Vincent Canby as the chief film critic.[5] Maslin continued to review films for The Times until 1999. Her film-criticism career, including her embrace of American independent cinema, is discussed in the documentary For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism (2009). In the documentary, Entertainment Weekly critic Lisa Schwarzbaum recalls the excitement of having a woman as the lead reviewer at The New York Times.

From 1994 to 2003, Maslin was a frequent guest on Charlie Rose. Overall she made 16 appearances on the program, giving her insights on the films of the day and predicting the Academy Awards.

Maslin continues to review books for The New York Times.[6] Among her reviews are many enthusiastic discoveries of then-unknown crime writers, the first American assessment of an Elena Ferrante novel, and a 2011 essay on the widowed Joyce Carol Oates' memoir, A Widow's Story, which offended some of Oates's admirers.[7][8]

References

  1. ^ Maslin, Janet (December 17, 2012). "Janet Maslin's 10 Favorite Books of 2012". The New York Times. p. C35. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  2. ^ Elder, Sean (September 23, 1999). "Maslin Bails, Critics Rail". Salon. Archived from the original on July 31, 2011. Retrieved December 21, 2007.
  3. ^ Barr, Jeremy (May 19, 2015). "Times book critic Janet Maslin shifts into contributing role". Politico. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
  4. ^ Aradillas, Aaron. "She's something else. Janet Maslin in a rockcritics.com interview". Rock Critics Archives. Archived from the original on February 12, 2018. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  5. ^ a b "New Assignments for 3 Times Critics". The New York Times. October 27, 1993. p. C18. Retrieved February 7, 2021.
  6. ^ "Book Reviews by Janet Maslin". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 28, 2010. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  7. ^ Weinstein, Deb (February 14, 2011). "Janet Maslin vs. Joyce Carol Oates's 'Widow's Story'". Thewire.com. Archived from the original on October 7, 2016. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  8. ^ "Unethical, Immoral. Crude and Cruel and Unconscionable". Crossing the Border. February 14, 2011. Archived from the original on November 10, 2011. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
Media offices
Preceded by Chief film critic of The New York Times
1994-1999
Succeeded by