- Joseph McLellan
Joseph Duncan McLellan was "
The Washington Post "' smusic critic for more than three decades as well as a chess and book reviewer.Born in
Quincy, Massachusetts in 1929 and grew up inSomerville, Massachusetts . He received hisbachelor's degree in French fromBoston College in 1951 and hismaster's degree inFrench literature , also from Boston College, in 1953. He planned to be a professor of French literature but began doing freelance reviews and found that he had a talent for journalism.He once told "Washingtonian" magazine: "To be the primary critic of a monopoly newspaper is an overwhelming role. You have to tread softly and be fully aware that your taste is not the only valid taste. All these years, I pasted in the front of my mind that there are many ways to be good." [http://www.boston.com/news/globe/obituaries/articles/2005/12/29/joseph_mclellan_76_venerable_music_critic/]
In addition to serving as chief music critic for the "Post", McLellan wrote a chess column, wrote for Book World and covered White House parties and other society events for the Style section. He covered world chess matches, and edited a syndicated column by the Czechoslovakian American grandmaster
Lubomir Kavalek .He reputedly taught himself to write as a youngster by reading "How to Write", a book that came as a bonus with a set of encyclopedias he bought with money earned from his paper route.
External links
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/27/AR2005122701311.html A Good Ear, and Heart]
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/27/AR2005122701127.html Longtime Post Music Critic Joseph D. McLellan Dies]
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