Cyrilly Abels

Cyrilly Abels (October 12, 1904 – November 8, 1975) was an American editor and literary agent.

Biography

Abels graduated from Radcliffe College in 1926.[1] In the 1930s, she was the executive secretary of the League of American Writers.[2] She served as the managing editor of Mademoiselle magazine between 1945 and 1960.[3] Under her leadership, the magazine's focus shifted from fashion to literature, publishing stories by Truman Capote, Dylan Thomas, and Carson McCullers.[4]

Abels was a close friend of Katherine Anne Porter.[5] In addition to Porter, Abels served as the literary agent for Christina Stead, Francis Steegmuller, Zelda Popkin, and Robert Scheer, among others.[6]

Legacy

Abels served as Sylvia Plath's model for the editor Jay Cee in The Bell Jar.[7] Her papers, including her correspondence with Porter, are held at the University of Maryland.[8]

References

  1. ^ Bingham, Sallie (2014). The Blue Box: Three Lives in Letters. Sarabande Books. ISBN 9781936747870.
  2. ^ Stout, Janis P. (1995). Katherine Anne Porter: A Sense of the Times. University of Virginia Press. p. 142.
  3. ^ Unrue, Darlene Harbour, ed. (2012). Selected Letters of Katherine Anne Porter: Chronicles of a Modern Woman. University Press of Mississippi. p. 360. ISBN 9781617036200.
  4. ^ Adams, Alice (2011). The Stories of Alice Adams. New York: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. pp. i. ISBN 9780307798145.
  5. ^ Givner, Joan (1982). Katherine Anne Porter : A Life. New York: Simon and Schuster. p. 411. ISBN 0671432079.
  6. ^ "Cyrilly Abels, Authors' Agent". The New York Times. November 9, 1975. p. 71. Retrieved January 16, 2024.
  7. ^ Wilson, Andrew (2013). Mad girl's love song : Sylvia Plath and life before Ted. New York: Scribner. p. 201. ISBN 9781476710310.
  8. ^ Cyrilly Abels papers, Special Collections, University of Maryland Libraries. hdl:1903.1/1537 Accessed January 16, 2024.