Solotaroff, Ted

▪ 2009

Theodore Solotaroff 

      American literary critic

born Oct. 9, 1928, Elizabeth, N.J.

died Aug. 8, 2008, East Quogue, N.Y.

founded (1967) the New American Review (later American Review), a literary journal that appeared three times a year in paperback form and featured fiction and nonfiction works by such luminaries as Mordecai Richler, E.L. Doctorow, Gabriel García Márquez, Norman Mailer, and Philip Roth (who submitted a sampling of what would become his novel Portnoy's Complaint [1969]). Although it was a critical success, the magazine struggled financially and stopped publication in 1977. Solotaroff, who met Roth while attending the University of Chicago (M.A., 1956), was so awed by the aspiring novelist's potential that he abandoned his own ambition to write fiction. Solotaroff found his niche, however, as an editor (1960–66) at Commentary magazine, which he left to launch his own publication. He later served as senior editor (1979–91) at the publisher Harper & Row (now HarperCollins). After retiring, Solotaroff published two memoirs, Truth Comes in Blows (1998), which recounts his tumultuous relationship with his father, and First Loves (2004), which explores his two main loves—one romantic and the other literary.

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