Re: just the two of us on the Fourth

Tim O'Connor (tim@roughdraft.org)
Wed, 08 Jul 1998 01:26:40 -0400 (EDT)

> Anyone caught a glimpse of _Remembering Mr. Shawn's New Yorker: The
> Invisibile Art  of Editing_ by Ved Mehta?  It sounds like info that may
> enlighten our discussion a bit and before I order it and spend $ I don't
> have, I suppose I'm looking for encouragement...will

When the talk this morning of editing and editors came across my screen, I
had wanted to mention this book.  I just finished it; it's splendid.  It is
the closest I've seen so far in the way it describes the magazine's
editorial process.  I learned a tremendous amount from it, and can't
recommend it too highly.

Also, in a mostly unrelated note, a new book by Lillian Ross, _Here but not
Here_, describes her 40-year personal relationship with Mr. Shawn.  In
there is a lovely and surprising picture of her son, when he was a year or
two old (this would have been in 1966 or so) being held in her apartment by
... "Jerry Salinger"!  Our hero looks quite joyful and carefree and unlike
anything I've ever seen in his pictures.  There's life in the eyes, in the
body language, in the facial expression.

And there's a wonderful standby, _Editors on Editing_, which is a series of
essays.  Not to be missed: Gerry Howard's "Mistah Perkins, He Dead," on the
loss of the old traditions in publishing, and Faith Sale's essay on work
she did for a novel by a friend of mine from years back.  (For those of us
who wonder how a veteran editor approaches a work by a novice writer.)  The
sad part is that as bleak as the Howard essay is, it pales when we consider
the greater ruthlessness we see today, as houses consolidate and
(editorial) heads roll.  So, while a year ago it still seemed timely, now
it seems a bit quaint.  (It was originally published in the American
Scholar six or eight years ago.)

--tim