Reading Jackie: Her Autobiography in Books by William Kuhn

Author:William Kuhn
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Presidents' Spouses - United States, Jacqueline Kennedy, Publishers, Onassis, Journalists, Editors, General, United States, Literary, Editors - United States, Book Editors - United States, Biography & Autobiography, Presidents' Spouses, Rich & Famous, Book Editors, Biography, Women
ISBN: 9780385530996
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
Published: 2010-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

(photo credit 7.7)

(photo credit 7.8)

Sidney Stafford told the critic from the New York Times assigned to review the book that it was “not your typical coffee-table photography book.” She called it a “photobiography.” It was not just her mother’s photographs but “the story of a woman.” Two women, actually. Whether consciously or not, Jackie summed up her own affinity with Frissell in the jacket copy for the book, over which she would have had direct control. Frissell, says the book’s jacket, “stretched the boundaries of the privileged world into which she was born and became one of the most innovative and renowned photographers of her time.” The books Jackie edited spoke to her stretching of the boundaries of her world as well. During the declining months of her life, Jackie had come to identify herself so completely with her job that she preferred going into Doubleday to staying at home in bed. The Frissell book was one of the last she ever worked on.

She had persuaded the editor in chief at Town & Country, Pamela Fiori, to run excerpts from the Frissell book timed to coincide with its publication. The magazine’s photo editor Bill Swan remembered that when the Town & Country staff visited her in 1994, Jackie was physically strong, though she was already ill and had a big bandage on her cheek. What struck Swan most when he came into the conference room and was introduced to Jackie was the contrast between the famous photos of her and the way she behaved in person. In her photographs, Swan remembered, “she has just a blank, middle-distance stare.” In person, he was surprised to find, she was more animated than he expected, more “engaging, almost little-girl-like” in her enthusiasm for the work she was showing them. It was hard to believe that the Jackie who warned off paparazzi with a cold glance could be the same as this neat woman wearing pencil-leg trousers and Chelsea boots, who came over and asked him to write his name in her book. Jackie O. wanted his autograph.

Pamela Fiori was also aware of Jackie’s lymphoma diagnosis. “I was sitting in a chair and she plopped—yes, plopped—on the floor next to me and began showing and telling [photographs], with the enthusiasm of a seven-year-old. As she did, she would point to something and look me in the eyes. I prayed she wouldn’t look too closely, because she would have seen that my own eyes had welled up. Here was the world’s most famous woman sitting on the floor beside me, hoping I would be interested in what she was showing me.” Enthusiasm for one of her book projects was what Jackie did. It was natural. It wasn’t work for her. She was also surrounded by a Doubleday team that was devoted to her. Swan noticed of Jackie’s colleagues, “It wasn’t what you’d expect. The relationship wasn’t stiff or formal at all. It was very casual. You could tell they loved her.” When the Town &

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