Judith Rossner attained a national reputation with Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1975), a best-seller which presents a dramatic portrayal of the sexual dilemma of modern Americans. The movie based on the book further advanced Rossner's reputation and...

New languages are discovered every year, and “goodbye” is a lousy word in every one of them. We said it a lot in 2005, with sadness every time. But before we throw out the Dom from New Year’s Eve and say hello to a brand-new...

New languages are discovered every year, and “goodbye” is a lousy word in every one of them. We said it a lot in 2005, with sadness every time. But before we throw out the Dom from New Year’s Eve and say hello to a...

It is strange, though not crucial, that the factual basis of Emmeline is indicated only in a tiny preface many readers may miss—strange because a myth-come-true (of this sort, anyway) has added punch and at the same time stills impertinent questions about coincidence. This is presumably one purpose of a publicity release to reviewers, which tells how Rossner came upon the story of Emmeline Mosher of Fayette, Maine, how details beyond bare bones were difficult to verify (church records were destroyed ...

Like Parisians, shrinks leave town in August. If they're New York shrinks, they flock to the Hamptons, where for one brief month no patients interrupt their lives. The patients, meanwhile, must fend for themselves. Along with the shorter breaks at Christmas and Easter, the recurrence of the August hiatus lends a rhythm to both sides of the psychoanalytic relationship. Enduring it or delighting in it, patient and analyst must somehow come to terms with August—the ritualized intrusion of time in...

In Emmeline, Judith Rossner has taken on a plot of high improbable melodrama and come so close to making it believable that the part we cannot swallow scarcely bothers our enjoyment…. Of course, claiming an origin in fact does not excuse plots that creak or circumstances that collide with unlikely bangs. The weakest answer any novelist can ever give is that something was that way and therefore is so transcribed. Fictional truth is more shapely and more persuasive than reality. We know people more cle...