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The Lady with the Borzoi: Blanche Knopf, Literary Tastemaker Extraordinaire
Left off her company's fifth anniversary tribute but described by Thomas Mann as "the soul of the firm," Blanche Knopf began her career when she founded Alfred A. Knopf with her husband in 1915. With her finger on the pulse of a rapidly changing culture, Blanche quickly became a driving force behind the firm.
A conduit to the literature of Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance, Blanche also legitimized the hard-boiled detective fiction of writers such as Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain, and Raymond Chandler; signed and nurtured literary authors like Willa Cather, Elizabeth Bowen, and Muriel Spark; acquired momentous works of journalism by John Hersey and William Shirer; and introduced American readers to Albert Camus, André Gide, and Simone de Beauvoir, giving these French writers the benefit of her consummate editorial taste.
As Knopf celebrates its centennial, Laura Claridge looks back at the firm's beginnings and the dynamic woman who helped to define American letters for the twentieth century. Drawing on a vast cache of papers, Claridge also captures Blanche's "witty, loyal, and amusing" personality, and her charged yet oddly loving relationship with her husband. An intimate and often surprising biography, The Lady with the Borzoi is the story of an ambitious, seductive, and impossibly hardworking woman who was determined not to be overlooked or easily categorized.
A conduit to the literature of Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance, Blanche also legitimized the hard-boiled detective fiction of writers such as Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain, and Raymond Chandler; signed and nurtured literary authors like Willa Cather, Elizabeth Bowen, and Muriel Spark; acquired momentous works of journalism by John Hersey and William Shirer; and introduced American readers to Albert Camus, André Gide, and Simone de Beauvoir, giving these French writers the benefit of her consummate editorial taste.
As Knopf celebrates its centennial, Laura Claridge looks back at the firm's beginnings and the dynamic woman who helped to define American letters for the twentieth century. Drawing on a vast cache of papers, Claridge also captures Blanche's "witty, loyal, and amusing" personality, and her charged yet oddly loving relationship with her husband. An intimate and often surprising biography, The Lady with the Borzoi is the story of an ambitious, seductive, and impossibly hardworking woman who was determined not to be overlooked or easily categorized.
481 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 12, 2016
17 people are currently reading
676 people want to read
About the author
Laura Claridge
8 books26 followersLaura Claridge has written books ranging from feminist theory to biography and popular culture, most recently the story of an American icon, Emily Post: Daughter of the Gilded Age, Mistress of American Manners (Random House), for which she received a National Endowment for the Humanities grant. This project also received the J. Anthony Lukas Prize for a Work in Progress, administered by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
Born in Clearwater, Florida, Laura Claridge received her Ph.D. in British Romanticism and Literary Theory from the University of Maryland in 1986. She taught in the English departments at Converse and Wofford colleges in Spartanburg, SC, and was a tenured professor of English at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis until 1997.
She has been a frequent writer and reviewer for the national press, appearing in such publications as The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, Vogue, Los Angeles Times, and the Christian Science Monitor. Her books have been translated into Spanish, German, and Polish. She has appeared frequently in the national media, including NBC, CNN, BBC, CSPAN, and NPR and such widely watched programs as the Today Show.
Laura Claridge’s biography of iconic publisher Blanche Knopf, The Lady with the Borzoi, will be published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux April, 2016.
Laura Claridge and her husband live in New York’s Hudson Valley.
Born in Clearwater, Florida, Laura Claridge received her Ph.D. in British Romanticism and Literary Theory from the University of Maryland in 1986. She taught in the English departments at Converse and Wofford colleges in Spartanburg, SC, and was a tenured professor of English at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis until 1997.
She has been a frequent writer and reviewer for the national press, appearing in such publications as The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, Vogue, Los Angeles Times, and the Christian Science Monitor. Her books have been translated into Spanish, German, and Polish. She has appeared frequently in the national media, including NBC, CNN, BBC, CSPAN, and NPR and such widely watched programs as the Today Show.
Laura Claridge’s biography of iconic publisher Blanche Knopf, The Lady with the Borzoi, will be published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux April, 2016.
Laura Claridge and her husband live in New York’s Hudson Valley.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
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June 6, 2016The most unlikely person in my office emailed me this morning pointing me towards a review of this book in the New York Review of Books on May 26th (check the Archives if you're also interested).
And then this communication via email occurred:
Me:
Thank you, I had not previously seen that. What an interesting woman, and yet another that has been almost forgotten by history.
I especially love this as I can relate: “Increasingly bookish, contemptuous of the friends she had begun to view as frivolous and shallow, Blanche often read while walking her Boston terrier.”
Just exchange “pug” for “Boston terrier” and that might as well be a description of myself.
I am going to add that book to my reading list, thank you!
Him:
That was in fact the phrase – “Blanche often read while walking her Boston terrier” – that suddenly made me think you might like this. Of course I didn’t know for sure that you had a pug, or read while walking him, but the thought was certainly plausible.
Apparently everyone in my office knows I have a small dog and read a ridiculous amount. And here I thought I was mostly invisible.
(Keeping this here for posterity. Review to come when I actually read the book.)
And then this communication via email occurred:
Me:
Thank you, I had not previously seen that. What an interesting woman, and yet another that has been almost forgotten by history.
I especially love this as I can relate: “Increasingly bookish, contemptuous of the friends she had begun to view as frivolous and shallow, Blanche often read while walking her Boston terrier.”
Just exchange “pug” for “Boston terrier” and that might as well be a description of myself.
I am going to add that book to my reading list, thank you!
Him:
That was in fact the phrase – “Blanche often read while walking her Boston terrier” – that suddenly made me think you might like this. Of course I didn’t know for sure that you had a pug, or read while walking him, but the thought was certainly plausible.
Apparently everyone in my office knows I have a small dog and read a ridiculous amount. And here I thought I was mostly invisible.
(Keeping this here for posterity. Review to come when I actually read the book.)
January 7, 2017
Blanche Knopf, as it turns out, was actually the brains behind Alfred A. Knopf publishers. Among the writers she brought to the company were Harlem Renaissance writers like Langston Hughes, the journalism of John Hersey and William Shirer, and many major authors such as Willa Cather, Elizabeth Bowen, and Muriel Spark. She introduced America to Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus and Andre Gide. She seems to have single-handedly launched hard-boiled detective fiction, discovering and developing Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain and Raymond Chandler. In her friendships with Carl Van Vechten and H.L. Mencken she was at the centre of literary and cultural circles and mixed with the likes of George Gershwin and Jascha Heifetz. Her colorful and creative life is excellently documented in Laura Claridge's biography and will, hopefully, establish her reputation as a 20th Century taste-maker once and for all and enshrine her as an important female intellect. A thoroughly enjoyable read. - BH.
October 30, 2018
Blanche Knopf is an extraordinary figure who shaped our worldview for generations. We have her to thank for many additions to our 20th century canon.
December 24, 2020
Yeah I mean like its fine or whatever. History books are always going to be interesting because they are all apart of the same shared universe. Life has always been as interesting as it is. People have always been people like we are.
December 26, 2016
This book took me a long time to read, it was dense with factual information about this remarkable woman who loved books.
I liked that the author included addresses of the buildings where the Knopfs and others lived and worked. I was able to look online and view the exteriors of these vintage New York buildings, read the history of the buildings, and even see some of the floor plans.
I liked that the author included addresses of the buildings where the Knopfs and others lived and worked. I was able to look online and view the exteriors of these vintage New York buildings, read the history of the buildings, and even see some of the floor plans.
May 18, 2016
Interesting. If you are fascinated with 20th Century New York and literature, it is a recommended read.
May 13, 2024
I’ve always loved the appearance of books published by Alfred A. Knopf, and many times the content too. The Knopf imprint seemed and seems a pinnacle of commercial excellence. More than once I and others, to our profit, have been entranced enough by the Knopf reputation and its impeccable packaging to buy a book that otherwise might have gone untried.
Happening upon Laura Claridge’s The Lady with the Borzoi, a biography of Blanche Knopf, partner of her husband in the august firm, as well as the discoverer, editor, and nurturer of Albert Camus, Thomas Mann, H. L. Mencken, Willia Cather, Wallace Stevens, Elizabeth Bowen, not to mention the three great American hardboiled detective writers (Hammett, Chandler, and Macdonald), John Updike, Richard Hofstadter, Sartre, Jorge Amado, on and on and on, I was delighted. To a lesser extent than many big houses, Alfred A. Knopf published some books that I, for one, find vapid in order to bring in the lucre (The Prophet, This is My Beloved), but Knopf can be forgiven, for at the same time it put out first-rate history, literature, poetry, and translated work that otherwise would not have seen the light of day so soon as it did.
Maybe I was set up for a fall. The Knopfs’ personal lives were unpleasant. Alfred and Blanche had an on-again, off-again relationship. According to Claridge, he never accorded her the credit she deserved for her energetic part in the publishing business, and both of them were unfaithful in the marriage. He was rude and could be crude. The account of their infidelities becomes tedious very quickly. Some of it was the product of the 1920’s—the firm was founded in 1915—but more of it their own selfish predilections. OK, I get it.
What I was hoping for was a more granular, closer look at the editing done on the work of their awe-inspiring authors. How closely was the lady with the borzoi involved? What was her role, other than acquisitions editor? The list of her secretaries and acquaintances is revealing and of her honors from foreign governments impressive, but for me that is secondary. I want to know more precisely Blanche W. Knopf’s contribution to the shaping of the text. What exactly defined her talents, her literary acumen? More, more! The book doesn’t go deeply enough into this.
Maybe I ask too much, but it’s what I want. I know enough people who over-diet, smoke too much, are fanatic about clothes, have squalid marriages, love their dogs, are warm and personable and socially most adept, but they are not connected to books that are deeply and personally affecting, as Blanche Knopf was.
Happening upon Laura Claridge’s The Lady with the Borzoi, a biography of Blanche Knopf, partner of her husband in the august firm, as well as the discoverer, editor, and nurturer of Albert Camus, Thomas Mann, H. L. Mencken, Willia Cather, Wallace Stevens, Elizabeth Bowen, not to mention the three great American hardboiled detective writers (Hammett, Chandler, and Macdonald), John Updike, Richard Hofstadter, Sartre, Jorge Amado, on and on and on, I was delighted. To a lesser extent than many big houses, Alfred A. Knopf published some books that I, for one, find vapid in order to bring in the lucre (The Prophet, This is My Beloved), but Knopf can be forgiven, for at the same time it put out first-rate history, literature, poetry, and translated work that otherwise would not have seen the light of day so soon as it did.
Maybe I was set up for a fall. The Knopfs’ personal lives were unpleasant. Alfred and Blanche had an on-again, off-again relationship. According to Claridge, he never accorded her the credit she deserved for her energetic part in the publishing business, and both of them were unfaithful in the marriage. He was rude and could be crude. The account of their infidelities becomes tedious very quickly. Some of it was the product of the 1920’s—the firm was founded in 1915—but more of it their own selfish predilections. OK, I get it.
What I was hoping for was a more granular, closer look at the editing done on the work of their awe-inspiring authors. How closely was the lady with the borzoi involved? What was her role, other than acquisitions editor? The list of her secretaries and acquaintances is revealing and of her honors from foreign governments impressive, but for me that is secondary. I want to know more precisely Blanche W. Knopf’s contribution to the shaping of the text. What exactly defined her talents, her literary acumen? More, more! The book doesn’t go deeply enough into this.
Maybe I ask too much, but it’s what I want. I know enough people who over-diet, smoke too much, are fanatic about clothes, have squalid marriages, love their dogs, are warm and personable and socially most adept, but they are not connected to books that are deeply and personally affecting, as Blanche Knopf was.
December 30, 2019
This biography of Blanche Knopf, the silent partner in the publishing firm of Alfred A Knopf, was interesting because of the insight it gave into the publishing history of some very important authors, like Langston Hughes, Carl Van Vechten, Willa Cather, Dashiel Hammett and Raymond Chandler. Even though Blanche was never treated as a true equal by her husband and her overbearing father-in-law, she was the one with the impeccable literary taste, who brought the authors of the Harlem Renaissance, major WWII journalists (Hersey, Shirer) and hard-boiled detective novelists to the Knopf publishing company. Her tormented life included a can't-live-together-can't-apart marriage with the terrifying Alfred (described here as a nasty know-it-all), an estrangement from her only child, and multiple physical ailments.
The book seems thorough, with good documentation of every trip Blanche took to sign up her authors, but at some point it seems to have become little more than that, especially in the last decade of Blanche's life. It's true that Blanche's heyday was the Roaring Twenties to the Fifties. From partying with the Fitzgeralds (whom she disliked) to flying to the UK during WWII, she lived a hectic life of hard work, incessant socializing and networking. Stuck in a loveless marriage, she compensated by taking lovers, usually famous musicians, but at some point engaging in a love affair with a "European gentleman" who is alternatively described as being French and "from Germany" (?!).
All in all, though, I didn't really get a good sense of the woman. Her flowery letters to her husband don't jive at all with their described behavior of furious quarrels during Knopf editorial meetings. Her difficult relationship with her only son, Pat, is hard to understand since Pat's version of their estrangement doesn't sound entirely true, either. So, in the end, I think that the book would have been more enjoyable for me if it had been structured as a straightforward history of the Knopf publishing house.
The book seems thorough, with good documentation of every trip Blanche took to sign up her authors, but at some point it seems to have become little more than that, especially in the last decade of Blanche's life. It's true that Blanche's heyday was the Roaring Twenties to the Fifties. From partying with the Fitzgeralds (whom she disliked) to flying to the UK during WWII, she lived a hectic life of hard work, incessant socializing and networking. Stuck in a loveless marriage, she compensated by taking lovers, usually famous musicians, but at some point engaging in a love affair with a "European gentleman" who is alternatively described as being French and "from Germany" (?!).
All in all, though, I didn't really get a good sense of the woman. Her flowery letters to her husband don't jive at all with their described behavior of furious quarrels during Knopf editorial meetings. Her difficult relationship with her only son, Pat, is hard to understand since Pat's version of their estrangement doesn't sound entirely true, either. So, in the end, I think that the book would have been more enjoyable for me if it had been structured as a straightforward history of the Knopf publishing house.
May 31, 2017
A perfectly rendered thoroughly covered and admirable telling of a rather extraordinary woman in her own right as well as in the world of publishing. Rather ground breaking in her insight and confident in her own abilities Blanche Knopf absolutely left her indelible mark on literature.
Although the important contributions of Blanche Knopf have often been overlooked in the recorded history of the house of Knopf Publishing, Laura Claridge certainly brings Mrs. Knopf into the light and her place in publishing and literature, that she so very much deserves, here.
Although the important contributions of Blanche Knopf have often been overlooked in the recorded history of the house of Knopf Publishing, Laura Claridge certainly brings Mrs. Knopf into the light and her place in publishing and literature, that she so very much deserves, here.
November 13, 2020
Blanche Knopf--What an amazing lady!
Really great and informative book... and thank God for Blanche Knopf. Because of her, we have "by now, twenty-seven Knopf writers [who] had won the Pulitzer Prize, and sixteen the Nobel." A force of nature, come what may, plowing through a complicated life with grace and verve. Well written and researched, I also appreciated the selected bibliography and index. Thank you, Laura Claridge!
Really great and informative book... and thank God for Blanche Knopf. Because of her, we have "by now, twenty-seven Knopf writers [who] had won the Pulitzer Prize, and sixteen the Nobel." A force of nature, come what may, plowing through a complicated life with grace and verve. Well written and researched, I also appreciated the selected bibliography and index. Thank you, Laura Claridge!
April 18, 2023
What frustrates me most about this biography of Blanche Knopt is that we hear her voice very infrequently . The quotations that we are given are very prosaic and without inspiration.
That being said, I am jealous of her intense energy and dedication to her pursuit of landing yet another great author to her catalog. She was almost like a big game hunter devotedly on the prowl.
That being said, I am jealous of her intense energy and dedication to her pursuit of landing yet another great author to her catalog. She was almost like a big game hunter devotedly on the prowl.
February 16, 2018
Book includes details of every author sponsored by Knopf
April 12, 2021
One of those books you keep reading in spite of the biographer because the subject is so interesting.
August 6, 2021
interesting read.
December 3, 2022
I loved finding out more about Blanche Knopf, she was an amazing woman!
May 11, 2016
Interesting biography of a publisher who brought to Knopf many now-famous authors of existentialism, the Harlem Renaissance, and hard-boiled detective fiction.
Because of the times (Knopf was founded in 1915; Blanche died in 1966), she was never given credit for finding and wooing these authors--instead, credit was given to her husband Alfred, and she was often referred to as "the publisher's wife." Recommended if you're interested in the publishing business or writers from the first half of the twentieth century.
Because of the times (Knopf was founded in 1915; Blanche died in 1966), she was never given credit for finding and wooing these authors--instead, credit was given to her husband Alfred, and she was often referred to as "the publisher's wife." Recommended if you're interested in the publishing business or writers from the first half of the twentieth century.
November 3, 2016
For anyone who has read extensively, this is an interesting look behind the scenes from a publisher's viewpoint.
Blanche Knopf was definitely a force to be reckoned with. Too bad we couldn't have seen her in action in today's world, without her husband holding her back.
While the subject matter was interesting, and the research was thorough, the author did not package the info in an easily digestible manner. It was as if she simply MUST throw in every single detail she had gleaned in her research, without putting it into a format that would be easy to take in.
Blanche Knopf was definitely a force to be reckoned with. Too bad we couldn't have seen her in action in today's world, without her husband holding her back.
While the subject matter was interesting, and the research was thorough, the author did not package the info in an easily digestible manner. It was as if she simply MUST throw in every single detail she had gleaned in her research, without putting it into a format that would be easy to take in.
May 23, 2016
Like her or not, Blanche Knopf was a formidable and astute publisher. Her literary taste shaped what is arguably one of the most prestigious imprints in publishing. This biography seems a bit one-sided but the author intended to credit Blanche Knopf with the accolades she deserves. Despite the cliches used in abundance The Lady with the Borzoi is a wonderful account of publishing in the twentieth century.
August 20, 2016
Detailed biography of an interesting woman. Extensive view of her times, especially interesting in the 20's & 30's.
There were times the book brought flashbacks of my desk piled with index cards as I struggled late on a Sunday night to put in every single fact that would impress my teacher on Monday morning. Could have used better editing to prune it and make it more compelling.
There were times the book brought flashbacks of my desk piled with index cards as I struggled late on a Sunday night to put in every single fact that would impress my teacher on Monday morning. Could have used better editing to prune it and make it more compelling.
July 10, 2016
I was really looking forward to reading this book, and while I did enjoy it, I couldn't help feeling it could have been even better somehow.
June 5, 2016
I wanted to enjoy this story, but the writer's style didn't engage my interest. Also I wondered why the book wasn't published by Knopf.
January 5, 2019
Superb biography of the woman who made Knopf publishers a 20th-century literary powerhouse.
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April 6, 2016Review by Linda F. Burghardt for the Jewish Book Council.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews