 What is an underlying issue that the writer touches upon throughout the whole passage?
Shawn--"with his usual hushed delicacy of speech and manner"--inquires of the novelist whether he could possibly reveal what prompted the creation of such an exquisite work. Just knowing that Mrs. Shawn is still alive adds a certain tension to reading much of what this Other Woman chooses to divulge. Elsewhere, Ross refers to her lover's "very powerful masculinity," only to note on the very next page that "if he suffered a paper cut on a finger and saw blood, he would come into my office, looking pale." She declares that "Bill was incapable of engendering a cliché, in deed as well as in word."
 There are different sources with differing opinions, making it hard to infer the total truth about Shawn and later Tina Brown.
 The two memoirs are completely inaccurate, and thus nothing that is offered can be true.  Shawn clearly had deep relationships with many people. Thus, it's hard to fully understand his life and his thoughts.  Shawn had been cheating on his wife, and even without getting a proper divorce he still pursued Ross.  There are different sources with differing opinions, making it hard to infer the total truth about Shawn and later Tina Brown.