 Presumably why did Shawn seem to blush at the comment made by Green in regards to his creation of exquisite work?
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. "He longed for the earthiest and wildest kinds of sexual adventures," Lillian Ross discloses in hers, adding that he lusted after Hannah Arendt, Evonne Goolagong, and Madonna. Moreover, Mehta writes as Shawn's adoring acolyte, whereas Ross writes as his longtime adulterous lover. It also made me feel funny about William Shawn, whom I have always regarded as a great man. But then she puts the most toe-curling clichés into his mouth: "Why am I more ghost than man?"
 The comment hit too close to home for him.
 He took business very seriously.  He was a prude.  He lacked the sense of humor that Green had.  The comment hit too close to home for him.