Lorin Stein

Lorin Hollister Stein (born April 22, 1973) is an American critic, editor, and translator. He was the editor in chief of The Paris Review[1] but resigned in 2017 following several anonymous accusations of sexual impropriety.[2] Under Stein's editorship, The Paris Review won two National Magazine Awards—the first in the category of Essays and Criticism (2011), and the second for General Excellence (2013).[3]

Lorin Stein
Stein, 2014
Born (1973-04-22) April 22, 1973
Washington, D.C.
EducationSidwell Friends School
Alma materYale University
Johns Hopkins University
OccupationLiterary critic, translator
Spouse(s)Sadie Stein

Personal life

Lorin Stein was born and raised in Washington, D.C., where he attended the Sidwell Friends School. He graduated from Yale College in 1995. In 1996 he received an MA from the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars, where he served as a teaching fellow.[4] Stein currently resides in New York City and is married to the writer and editor Sadie Stein,[5] who worked at the Paris Review from 2011[6] to 2014.[7] His sister is the literary agent Anna Stein.[4]

Career

After brief tenures as a contributing editor at Might and Publishers Weekly, Stein was hired by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 1998 as an editorial assistant. He was eventually promoted to senior editor.[8] In 2008, FSG published his translation of Grégoire Bouillier's memoir The Mystery Guest.

Stein succeeded Philip Gourevitch as the fourth editor of The Paris Review in April 2010.[1] In 2015 he translated into English the bestselling novel Submission by French author Michel Houellebecq. He has translated two books by Édouard Louis: History of Violence (2018)[9] and Who Killed My Father (2019).

Sex scandal and resignation
See also: Me Too movement

In October 2017 the Paris Review board started an internal investigation which heard complaints from 'at least two female writers' alleging 'negative encounters' with Stein.[2] It was reported in the New York Times that Stein 'often complimented women on their appearance and suggested they invite attractive friends to [Paris Review] parties'. One writer alleged she had a consensual sexual relationship with Stein, including having sex in his office, and thought that their breakup might have affected Stein's judgment of her work. Her agent confirmed she'd been told of the relationship in 2013. Stein strongly denies ever having taken looks or relationship status into consideration when approving stories.[2]

Another woman in publishing claimed that, a decade earlier, Stein had touched her at a work dinner in an inappropriate way, including touching her knee several times, sliding his hand up her skirt and touching her underwear. She said she had to request to move to a different seat to get him to stop. A friend and her boyfriend at the time confirmed she had spoken to them about the encounter when it happened.[2]

On December 6, 2017, Stein resigned.[2] In his letter of resignation, he wrote: "I blurred the personal and the professional in ways that were, I now recognize, disrespectful of my colleagues and our contributors, and that made them feel uncomfortable or demeaned."[2] Stein acknowledged dating and 'expressing interest in women with whom he had professional connections, including interns and writers for the magazine', conduct that he acknowledged was “an abuse of my position.” He wrote that the "way I behaved was hurtful, degrading and infuriating to a degree that I have only begun to understand this past month." However, Stein maintains that all sexual relations and contact was consensual.[2]

He also left his editor-at-large role at Farrar Straus & Giroux.[10]

In March 2018, an article in Harper's Magazine argued that Stein had been a target of false rumors and that his case was an example of "implausibility and rationalization" in the #MeToo movement.[11]

Awards and honors

Books edited by Stein have received the National Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Believer Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award.[12] His reviews of fiction and poetry and his translations from French have appeared in The New York Review of Books, Harper's, The London Review of Books, The New Republic, n+1, and the Salon Guide to Contemporary Fiction.[12] His translation of Edouard Levé's Autoportrait was nominated for the Best Translated Book Award (2013).[13]

Under Stein's editorship, The Paris Review has won two National Magazine Awards—the first in the category of Essays and Criticism (John Jeremiah Sullivan, "Mister Lytle: An Essay", 2011), and the second for General Excellence (2013).[3][14]

See also

References
  1. Dave Itzkoff (March 5, 2010), "Paris Review Names New Editor", ArtsBeat, The New York Times.
  2. Alexandra Alter; Sydney Ember (December 6, 2017). "Paris Review Editor Resigns Amid Inquiry Into His Conduct With Women". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 30, 2017.
  3. Christine Haughney (May 2, 2013). "New York Receives Top Magazine Prize". The New York Times. Retrieved July 2, 2013.
  4. Butterworth, Trevor (August 13, 2010). "Lunch with the FT: Lorin Stein". Financial Times. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
  5. Weddings (July 26, 2015). "Sadie Stein, Lorin Stein". The New York Times. Retrieved September 17, 2015.
  6. Lorin Stein (April 15, 2011). "Sadie Stein to Join Editorial Staff of 'The Paris Review'". The Paris Review Daily. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
  7. Sadie Stein (January 6, 2014). "Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes'". The Paris Review. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
  8. Bosman, Julie (February 25, 2011). "Lorin Stein, the Paris Review's New Party Boy". The New York Times. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
  9. Edmund White (June 20, 2018). "History of Violence by Édouard Louis review". The Guardian. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
  10. Thu-Huong Ha (December 7, 2017). "A scandal at The Paris Review shines a light on misconduct at boozy literary soirées". Quartzy.
  11. Katie Roiphe (February 4, 2018). "The Other Whisper Network". Harper's Mgazine. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
  12. Press Release Archived July 3, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, The Paris Review.
  13. Chad W. Post (April 10, 2013). "2013 Best Translated Book Award: The Fiction Finalists". Three Percent. Retrieved April 11, 2013.
  14. Nicole Rudick (May 10, 2011). "The Paris Review Wins National Magazine Award". The Paris Review. Retrieved July 2, 2013.
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