Rosette C. Lamont | |
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| Born | February 15, 1927 Paris, France |
| Died | January 5, 2012 (aged 84) Falmouth, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Occupation | Theater critic |
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| Awards | Guggenheim Fellowship (1973) |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | |
| Academic work | |
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Rosette Clementine Lamont[1] (February 15, 1927 – January 5, 2012) was an American theater critic. She was author of The Two Faces of Ionesco (1978) and Ionesco’s Imperatives (1993), as well as English-language translator of Charlotte Delbo's memoirs Auschwitz and After. She was also a full professor at Queens College and CUNY Graduate Center before moving to Sarah Lawrence College.
Biography
editRosette Lamont was born on February 15, 1927, in Paris.[2][1] She was the only child of concert pianist Ludmila Lieberman Salomon and furrier Alexandre Salomon, both of whom were Russian emigrants to France.[2] After immigrating to the United States as World War II refugees, she was raised in the Upper West Side in Manhattan.[2] She attended Hunter College, where she obtained a BA in 1947, and Yale University, where she obtained an MA in 1948 and a PhD in 1954.[1]
In 1950, Lamont began working at Queens College as a tutor.[1] She was later promoted to instructor in 1954, assistant professor in 1959–65, associate professor in 1965, and full professor in 1967.[1] She also became a full professor at CUNY Graduate Center in 1968.[1] She moved to Sarah Lawrence College in 1994, supporting their experimental theater work and calling the institution her "utopia on a hill".[2]
Marvin Carlson called Lamont "a leading scholar on the post-war French theatre".[3] She was widely known as an authority on Eugene Ionesco.[2] She wrote two books on the subject: The Two Faces of Ionesco (1978) and Ionesco’s Imperatives (1993).[2] A theater critic, she contributed to publications like The New York Times, TheaterWeek, and The New York Theatre Wire.[2] She was also part of the first editorial board for the journal Western European Stages, where she wrote essays on contemporary Parisian theatre.[3] She published an English translation of Auschwitz and After, after meeting its writer Charlotte Delbo.[4]
In 1973, Lamont was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship "for a study of the anti-hero in the drama and the novel".[1] She also served as a 1974 Department of State Scholar Exchange Program envoy and a 1983-1984 Rockefeller Foundation Humanities Fellow.[2] She also received the Officier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and the Officier of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques.[2]
Lamont was twice-divorced, from Bernard Seidler and Fredrick H. Farmer.[2] She was a long-time friend of playwright Eugène Ionesco, whom she met when his play Rhinoceros made its Broadway debut.[2] She also was in a relationship with Saul Bellow, whose 1964 novel Herzog had one of its major characters, Ramona, inspired by her.[5] Her mother was murdered at some point after Lamont's first marriage.[4]
Lamont died on January 5, 2012, in Falmouth, Massachusetts.[2]
References
edit- The Two Faces of Ionesco (1978)[a]
- Ionesco's Imperatives (1993)[12]
- Auschwitz and After (English translation)
Notes
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c d e f g Reports of the President and the Treasurer. John Simon Guggenheim Memorial. 1973. p. 69.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "REMEMBERING ROSETTE". The New York Theatre Wire. Archived from the original on October 1, 2025. Retrieved September 7, 2025.
- ^ a b Carlson, Marvin (2012). "Rosette C. Lamont 1927-2012". Western European Stages. 24 (1): 2 – via ProQuest.
- ^ a b Haft, Cynthia (August 10, 2017). "Rosette Lamont: A Remembrance". Mass Review. Archived from the original on September 14, 2024. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
- ^ Menand, Louis (May 4, 2015). "Saul Bellow's Revenge Novel". The New Yorker. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
- ^ Heiney, D. (1979). "Review of The Two Faces of Ionesco". World Literature Today. 53 (2): 258. doi:10.2307/40133608. ISSN 0196-3570. JSTOR 40133608.
- ^ Knapp, Bettina L. (1979). "Review of The Two Faces of Ionesco". The French Review. 52 (5): 784–785. ISSN 0016-111X. JSTOR 388941.
- ^ Knowles, Dorothy (1980). "Review of The Two Faces of Ionesco". The Modern Language Review. 75 (4): 904–905. doi:10.2307/3726653. ISSN 0026-7937. JSTOR 3726653.
- ^ Otten, Anna (1979). "Review of The Two Faces of Ionesco". The Antioch Review. 37 (3): 368. doi:10.2307/4638209. ISSN 0003-5769. JSTOR 4638209.
- ^ Pronko, Leonard C. (1979). "Review of The Two Faces of Ionesco". Comparative Drama. 13 (3): 261–263. ISSN 0010-4078. JSTOR 41152843.
- ^ White, Kenneth S. (1980). "Review of The Two Faces of Ionesco". L'Esprit Créateur. 20 (3): 100–101. ISSN 0014-0767. JSTOR 26283824.
- ^ Allet, Hervé (1994). "Review of Ionesco's Imperatives: The Politics of Culture". World Literature Today. 68 (3): 531. doi:10.2307/40150383. ISSN 0196-3570. JSTOR 40150383.
