Abels, Cyrilly, 1903-1975

Cyrilly Abels (1903-1975), an intimate friend of Katherine Anne Porter, was a notable literary editor and agent. Her career began in 1924 after her graduation from Radcliffe College; she co-founded and was the first editor of a small publication called Creative Reading .

As the managing editor of Mademoiselle magazine from 1945 to 1960, she played a major role in transforming the publication from a fashion magazine for young women to an important medium for young and talented writers. In its pages she brought to a mass audience the writers Eldridge Cleaver, Truman Capote, Carson McCullers, James Baldwin, Hortense Calisher, Eugene lonesco, Flannery O'Connor, James Purdy, and Katherine Anne Porter.

After leaving Mademoiselle, Abels worked for two years as associate editor of The Reporter . Then, in 1962, she established her own literary agency. Her client list included Warren Hinckle, Zelda Popkin, Christina Stead, Francis Steegmuller, T. S. Mathews, Robert Scheer, and Katherine Anne Porter.

Her client Warren Hinckle (former publisher of Ramparts ) wrote that Abels expanded "the traditional role of agent into that of combination editor and ombudsman." Her working relationship and close personal friendship with Katherine Anne Porter epitomizes Hinckle's characterization.

In 1950, Abels initiated a relationship with Porter that endured and deepened over a quarter century. Their nascent professional relationship as editor/agent and writer developed into an intimate friendship that lasted until Abels's death. Though often separated by Porter's peripatetic activities and brief periods of "seclusion," the two kept up a rich and diverse correspondence, interspersed with brief meetings. Their common devotion to writing brought them together, but they also shared interests in gardening and fashion—subjects on which they often expounded on at great length in their correspondence.

A passage from one of Porter's letters to Abels, dated November 3, 1961, illustrates her affection:

"The last news I had of you was just ten days ago. I am thinking about you, and wondering, and hoping, and wishing I could do something. But this is not worrying, not fretting and gnawing, it really is what the old Quakers used to call with great purity of feeling for the meaning of words, a Concern, a very continuous awareness of you, for your situation, of what you wish for and are trying to do, and just a plain old fashioned sympathy and friendship for you."

Abels and her husband, lawyer Jerome Weinstein, were childless. Cyrilly Abels died on November 14, 1975. At her death, she was survived by her two sisters, Jean and Muriel Abels.

From the guide to the Cyrilly Abels papers, 1950-1975, 1953-1968, (Literature and Rare Books)