Elizabeth Janeway, Dead at 91

Novelist, early feminist Elizabeth Janeway dies at 91

By Christopher Lehmann-Haupt

The New York Times

Elizabeth Janeway, 91, who began her career as a best-selling novelist in the 1940s and later distinguished herself as a critic, a lecturer and an early advocate of the women's movement, died yesterday at a retirement home in Rye, N.Y.

Her death was reported by her son, writer and editor Michael Janeway.

Most of Ms. Janeway's earlier books were novels that focused on family situations and occasionally the pressures on women of modern society and were cited for their psychological acuteness and good sense. All the while, she reviewed books for The New York Times and other newspapers, and was credited for helping to introduce English writers such as Anthony Powell to an American audience and for defending the artistic merits of "Lolita," by Nabokov. {more}

While I'm not familiar with Janeway's work, she sounds like an absolute class act and a wonderfully strong woman. Plus, I'm a fan of anyone who's a fan of Nabokov! I've made a memo to myself to pick up a few of her books.