 What best summarizes what the author has to say about William Shawn?
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. Moreover, Mehta writes as Shawn's adoring acolyte, whereas Ross writes as his longtime adulterous lover. Just knowing that Mrs. Shawn is still alive adds a certain tension to reading much of what this Other Woman chooses to divulge. It also made me feel funny about William Shawn, whom I have always regarded as a great man. Besides, the moral tone of the magazine was almost wholly admirable--it was ahead of the pack on Hiroshima, civil rights, Vietnam, Watergate, the environment--and this was very much Shawn's doing.
 He was a respectable man with complexities that weren't always obvious and is hard to pin down based on the stories told of him.
 He had a magnetic personality, as shown in the way Ross and Mehta gravitated towards him.  While quiet on the outside, he was a man prone to adultery.  He was a respectable man with complexities that weren't always obvious and is hard to pin down based on the stories told of him.  He lived a simple life and worked hard to publish his magazine.