Litsy

Max Perkins: Editor of Genius | A. Scott Berg

How did I miss this film about Thomas Wolfe & his editor Max Perkins? I ran across the film today and binge watched the whole thing while on the elliptical. Gorgeous cinematography and acting - highly recommend.

Whole thing is here on YouTube: https://youtu.be/9AowPEE-7hY?si=Llhdawj2cxKCQUyM

Cathythoughts Oh I must watch this too 👍🏻❤️ 2d

Tamra @Cathythoughts I think you‘ll enjoy it. Very beautiful to watch. 1d

33 likes2 comments

jen_the_scribe

The World She Edited: Katharine S. White at The New Yorker | Amy Reading

pick

This is a soft pick. Taking emotion out of it; this is a well-researched, well-written, and unbiased biography. But emotionally speaking, my feelings for its subject were ambivalent. At times I admired and respected her, but there were certain things I could not get past, like her privileged branch of feminism which ignored the intersectional necessity of Black feminism as well as equal rights all across the board (for people of color and LGBTQ)⬇️

jen_the_scribe “We can admire how this woman, born at a precise moment in history when opportunities for women were expanding, made full and abundant use of her freedom to work and raise a family, while also acknowledging how her curiosity stayed circumscribed within her privilege.” The author realized this as well and mentions her lack of grit when it came time to edit Black writers, how she continued to reject their work. Or the fact that she only brought up⬇️ 3w

jen_the_scribe …one other female editor, who was also just as easily forgotten in the history of the magazine. The majority of female writers who were published in The New Yorker wrote about being a homemaker, and Katharine herself tended to state that this should be a woman‘s priority. However, she was still a force for the magazine and paved the way for other women to come in later in the magazine‘s history. I enjoyed learning about this era of literary…⬇️ 3w

jen_the_scribe …history. I found her second husband, E.B. White extremely likable, as well as her oldest son, Roger Angell (who also became editor of The New Yorker). Overall, I was fascinated by Katharine‘s life and work, and the historical aspect of this time period. I read it slowly and lost count how many journal entries I wrote about it (as you can see, I have a lot to say about it). As a writer and a reader, it definitely appealed to my literary senses. 3w

14 likes3 comments

jen_the_scribe

The World She Edited: Katharine S. White at The New Yorker | Amy Reading

Litsy wasn‘t letting me post last night. But what a nice night it was. My introverted self has had to be way too extroverted these past couple of weeks as the days led up to my BIL‘s wedding. The in laws were in town, some staying with us. Everyone has gone home or is leaving tomorrow. I love them, but I‘m so happy to have my home and my routine back to normal, and ecstatic to have a calm weekend for plenty of reading. Sunny approves too lol 😻

dabbe #sweetestsunny Enjoy! Signed, another introvert! 🖤🐾🖤 3w

19 likes1 comment

SomedayAlmost

Spellbinding Sentences: A Writer's Guide to Achieving Excellence and Captivating Readers | Barbara Baig

She treasured expressive words as "some girls might have treasured jewels." I'm taking a course to hone the skills to add line editing to my developmental editing service for fiction writers. My prof. suggested we read this book. #writing #editing

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jen_the_scribe

The World She Edited: Katharine S. White at The New Yorker | Amy Reading

“…‘writers tend to magnify the significance and difficulty of writing and to destroy its essential simplicity and directness.‘ Also, they ruined tablecloths with their lead pencils.”

10 likes

jen_the_scribe

The World She Edited: Katharine S. White at The New Yorker | Amy Reading

“…the real tragedy occurs when the drive that should go into creation becomes unhinged and spills over into personal relationships.”

10 likes

jen_the_scribe

The World She Edited: Katharine S. White at The New Yorker | Amy Reading

“Male editors who fulfilled their job duties were deemed not ‘formidable‘ but ‘genius…‘

Lurking within the word ‘formidable‘ is this original sin: she did nothing to prop up male authority or disguise her own, nothing to make it easier for men to defer to her.”

jen_the_scribe Here the author is discussing the fact that so many people referred to Katherine as “formidable,” simply because she took her job seriously. And that is often a word used to describe women in such positions, but never men. 1mo

jen_the_scribe I should add that the word is used in the context of respect and fear, maybe well-intentioned, but it indirectly hints at the “oddity” of a woman taking such authority in her career. However, it‘s instantly “expected” of men in the same positions. 1mo

10 likes2 comments

jen_the_scribe

The World She Edited: Katharine S. White at The New Yorker | Amy Reading

“She valued intellectual risk, because she herself had profited from wading into books that made her stretch to encompass them.”

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jen_the_scribe

The World She Edited: Katharine S. White at The New Yorker | Amy Reading

“…her father and Crullie seemed to have provided only support, never censorship. Katharine was allowed to read books that scared her and books that she didn‘t understand—and these were ‘often the ones that meant the most‘ to her.”

10 likes

jen_the_scribe

The World She Edited: Katharine S. White at The New Yorker | Amy Reading