HOFMANN, Paul Leopold 1912-

PERSONAL: Born November 20, 1912, in Vienna, Austria; came to the United States in 1959; naturalized U.S. citizen, 1968; son of Joseph Martin (a civil servant) and Ida Anna (Pirkmayr) Hofmann; married Maria A. Tratter, December 18, 1940; children: Ernest, Alexander. Education: University of Vienna, Dr. Jur., 1936.

ADDRESSES: Home—94 Via della Dataria, 00187 Rome, Italy. Office—c/o New York Times, 229 West 43rd St., New York, NY 10036. Agent—Georges Borchardt, Inc., 136 East 57th St., New York, NY 10022.

CAREER: Berner Tagblatt, Berne, Switzerland, correspondent from Rome, Italy, and Vienna, Austria, 1936-45; New York Times, New York, NY, editorial assistant in Rome, 1945-56, foreign correspondent in Italy, France, Nigeria, Spain, Algeria, Cuba, and Zaire, 1956-74, chief of United Nations Bureau, 1974-76, correspondent from Vienna, 1976-78, roving correspondent in Rome, 1978-80, bureau chief and writer for magazine, beginning 1980.

WRITINGS:

Rome: The Sweet, Tempestuous Life, Congdon & Lattes (New York, NY), 1982.

O Vatican! A Slightly Wicked View of the Holy See, Congdon & Weed (New York, NY), 1984.

The Viennese: Splendor, Twilight, and Exile, Anchor Press (New York, NY), 1988.

Cento Citta: A Guide to the 'Hundred Cities and Towns' of Italy, Holt (New York, NY), 1988.

That Fine Italian Hand, Holt (New York, NY), 1990.

Roma: The Smart Traveler's Guide to the Eternal City, Holt (New York, NY), 1993.

Switzerland: The Smart Traveler's Guide to Zurich, Basel, and Geneva, Holt (New York, NY), 1994.

The Spell of the Vienna Woods: Inspiration and Influence from Beethoven to Kafka, Holt (New York, NY), 1994.

The Sunny Side of the Alps: Year-Round Delights in South Tyrol and the Dolomites, Holt (New York, NY), 1995.

The Seasons of Rome: A Journal, Holt (New York, NY), 1997.

Umbria: Italy's Timeless Heart, Holt (New York, NY), 1999.

The Vatican's Women: Female Influence at the Holy See, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2002.

SIDELIGHTS: Paul Leopold Hofmann has parlayed his longtime position as New York Times Rome correspondent and bureau chief into several books on Italy's landmarks and culture. Reviewing Rome: The Sweet, Tempestuous Life in the Los Angeles Times, Elaine Kendall called this book "the ideal way to enjoy a Roman holiday without coping with strikes, parking problems or the bother of converting thousands of deflated dollars into millions of inflated lire." More than a travelogue, Hofmann's work is "a subtle fascinating character study of the city and its people," according to Kendall. "Hofmann's book strikes a delicate balance between the apparently trivial and the deceptively serious. By concentrating upon the paradoxes and contradictions, he uncovers the essence of a city unlike any other."

Hofmann's two books on the Vatican take an off-the-wall look at the spiritual landmark. O Vatican! A Slightly Wicked View of the Holy See was followed by The Vatican's Women: Female Influence at the Holy See. The latter volume, according to Booklist reviewer Ray Olson, is an "entertaining" analysis of "the scope of women's sway in the Vatican." Indeed, about a tenth of the Vatican's contemporary employees are women, whose job titles include nun, housekeeper, lawyer, and art curator; although Library Journal reviewer Anna Donnelly mentioned that The Vatican's Women is "peppered with innuendo, conjecture, and hearsay, as interviewed sources chose to remain anonymous." While writing about today's Vatican women, Hofmann also looks at the female presence of the past, including "Pope Joan," a German (some sources say English) woman of the ninth century. "Disguised as a man," a Kirkus Reviews contributor wrote, Joan "so impressed the papal city with her learning that she was made a cardinal and eventually elected pope until an untimely pregnancy revealed her true gender."

Departing Italy, Hofmann tours his native land of Austria in such volumes as The Viennese: Splendor, Twilight, and Exile and The Spell of the Vienna Woods: Inspiration and Influence from Beethoven to Kafka. The latter title has the author revisiting the woods fifty years after the scourge of World War II. In doing so, Hofmann recounts "what it was like to grow up in this forest-encircled, romantic city," remarked a Publishers Weekly critic. As much a guide as a memoir, The Spell of the Vienna Woods "tells us what to see and do," said John Shreffler of Booklist, in what he called "an exemplary work beautifully written."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

Booklist, May 1, 1994, John Shreffler, review of The Spell of the Vienna Woods: Inspiration and Influence from Beethoven to Kafka, p. 1580; December 15, 1996, Brad Hooper, review of The Seasons of Rome: A Journal, p. 706; March 15, 1999, Bill Ott, review of Umbria: Italy's Timeless Heart, p. 1286; October 1, 2002, Ray Olson, review of The Vatican's Women: Female Influence at the Holy See, p. 290.

Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2002, review of The Vatican's Women, p. 1196.

Library Journal, April 15, 1988, Ann Cohen, review of Cento Citta: A Guide to the 'Hundred Cities and Towns' of Italy, p. 79; April 15, 1988, Benny Kraut, review of The Viennese: Splendor, Twilight, and Exile, p. 88; May 15, 1990, David Nudo, review of The Viennese, p. 88; May 15, 1990, David Nudo, review of That Fine Italian Hand, p. 88; January, 1993, Melinda Stivers Leach, review of Roma: The Smart Traveler's Guide to the Eternal City, p. 150; January, 1994, William Smith, review of Switzerland: The Smart Traveler's Guide to Zurich, Basel, and Geneva, p. 146; April 15, 1994, Jo-Anne Mary Benson, review of The Spell of the Vienna Woods, p. 100; July, 1995, Martin Kalfatovic, review of The Sunny Side of the Alps: Year-Round Delights in South Tyrol and the Dolomites, p. 108; November 15, 1996, David Nudo, review of The Seasons of Rome, p. 78; January, 1999, David Nudo, review of Umbria, p. 137; September 15, 2002, Anna Donnelly, review of The Vatican's Women, p. 67.

Los Angeles Times, May 27, 1982, Elaine Kendall, review of Rome: The Sweet, Tempestuous Life; February 13, 1984, Elaine Kendall, review of O Vatican! A Slightly Wicked View of the Holy See, p. 8.

Mademoiselle, February, 1984, Elin Schoen, review of O Vatican!, p. 220.

New Yorker, July 11, 1994, review of The Spell of the Vienna Woods, p. 91.

New York Review of Books, June 29, 1989, Michael Ignatieff, review of The Viennese, p. 21.

New York Times, November 13, 1988, Henry Kamm, review of Cento Citta.

New York Times Book Review, February 19, 1984, Peter Hebblethwaite, review of O Vatican!, p. 17; October 30, 1988, Mark Anderson, review of The Viennese, p. 13; June 17, 1990, Michael Mewshaw, review of That Fine Italian Hand, p. 10; September 11, 1994, Erik Burns, review of The Spell of the Vienna Woods, p. 33.

Publishers Weekly, November 25, 1983, review of O Vatican!, p. 55; April 8, 1988, Genevieve Stuttaford, review of Cento Citta, p. 81; April 26, 1988, Genevieve Stuttaford, review of The Viennese, p. 70; April 4, 1994, review of The Spell of the Vienna Woods, p. 63; May 29, 1995, review of The Sunny Side of the Alps, p. 72; November 4, 1996, review of The Seasons of Rome, p. 58; February 8, 1999, review of Umbria, p. 208.

Travel-Holiday, December-January, 1994, Peter Lewis, review of The Spell of the Vienna Woods, p. 93.

U.S. Catholic, May, 1984, Michael Christopher, review of O Vatican!, p. 48.

Wall Street Journal, January 12, 1984, Ellen Wilson, review of O Vatican!, p. 22.

Washington Monthly, April, 1984, Joseph Nocera, review of O Vatican!, p. 56.*