PORTRAITS IN PRINT: A Collection of Profiles...

PORTRAITS IN PRINT: A Collection of Profiles and the Stories Behind Them by Helen Benedict (Columbia University Press: $12.95, illustrated). This anthology gives Benedict what every journalist wants--a chance to tell the story behind a published piece. She follows each of the nine articles with a discussion of how it came to be written and why certain information was included or left out, as well as more personal impressions of her subjects. Benedict notes that she was able to establish an unexpected rapport with Susan Sontag, Jessica Mitford and Joseph Brodsky, and her profiles of these figures are sharply observed and vividly written; but she was unable to penetrate Paule Marshall’s reserve, personally or professionally.