The overweening editor

[Stella_Omega]

Grushenka's thrad about helvetica lead me to this story
Discuss.

 

[cloudy]

There's editing, and then there's rewriting.

I don't believe an editor should rewrite.

 

[rgraham666]

I'm with cloudy on this.

An editor can give direction, advice on how the story works, correct grammar and such.

What Lish did was rewrite. It might have worked that time, but it's not something you can count on.

 

[Stella_Omega]

There's editing, and then there's rewriting.

I don't believe an editor should rewrite.

But Lish took Carver's good work, and made masterpieces out of it. That's simply fascinating to me. It's totally unprincipled, but-- it made art.

I see the same phenomenon in music as well-- certain producers can take a band from good to sublime. This does not seem as pernicious in the music industry-- becase a song can be resung another five minutes from now. there needn't be one version only.

In literature, of course, work is rarely published in more than one form, so an overweening editor has a much larger role in how the world sees the author.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I'm thinking Maxwell Perkins was famous for re-writing manuscripts.

 

[Stella_Omega]

I'm thinking Maxwell Perkins was famous for re-writing manuscripts.

And H.L. Mencken, one of my editing heroes.

 

[cantdog]

I'm with cloudy on this.

An editor can give direction, advice on how the story works, correct grammar and such.

What Lish did was rewrite. It might have worked that time, but it's not something you can count on.

Remember "The Waste Land"? Eliot sent it to Pound, who blue-penciled it. The poem that came back was less than half the length. Eliot was awestruck. He dumped his original and the version you see is Pound's, with the fat removed.

 

[cantdog]

And H.L. Mencken, one of my editing heroes.

Mencken and Pound had pith and wit.

These are rare qualities. I agree with the author of the article. It feels foul, but it needn't have been.

Perhaps the ability to cut fat and polish a rough gem is also art?

 

[rgraham666]

It is. Which is why it should be done so rarely. I suspect few people are genius enough to edit genius. It would be too easy to butcher instead.

 

[Stella_Omega]

T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound were a perfect match. I hope that someday I meet my perfect editor! Especially in this day and age where there is an excess of omission- lousy, lazy editors who won't blue-pencil a single line for fear of "Silencing the native voice" (gag me)


It was tough on Raymond Carver. But-- if Lish hadn't taken it upon himself, I, for one would never have known that kind of prose was possible. It gave me something to aim for-- of my own volition-- and hopefully, my future editor will find my ideas more in tune with his. The editing won't be as violent or something. or maybe it will, at that...

 

[neonlyte]

I don't know Carvers work, and you've intriqued me enough to search it out.

I spent last New Year with a dozen people, two of whom were professional editors. One worked for a small newish London publishing house, the other edits non-fiction, largely. I was quite astonished by their proprietary attitude toward authors works. They were not scathing or derogatory in sense of putting down authors but they gave me the clear impression that once they'd accepted an authors work, they 'owned' the work and would do whatever they felt necessary to make the work a commercial success. An approach very different from what I understand (from above) to be Lish's handling of Carvers manuscripts.

The one thing I understood from an evening in their company was the need to be very clear, as a writer, of why you have approached a particular publishing house. Writing and polishing the story is only part of the job. Selecting the right editor/publisher profile for the story you've written is an arduous task, and one few new authors are skilled to handle.

 

[Belegon]

As a fledging professional editor, I have exactly two fears about my work.

1) That I will silence my authors voice and substitute my own.

2) That I will let the author get away with too much and thus be nothing more than a glorified proof-reader.

David Morrell told a story about Stephen King bemoaning the fact that he couldn't get a decent edit anymore because all the editors were too intimidated.

Stephen King needs Imp to edit for him. Imp and intimidation always share the same side of the table. And I say that with total love and respect for Imp and with respect for Mr. King.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

STELLA

Yep, Mencken re-wrote, too.

A great editor is a diamond cutter.