I enjoyed reading this very much, and couldn't help coming to the conclusion that the "ideal literary editor" would be *you*; or, at least, that you are an example of *an* ideal literary editor, because of your voracious interest in 'all Americas'. The question is how is that ('that' = a set of editors with your book/life-loving characteristics) funded into existence to compete against the liberal-credentialed machine that currently curates unreadable, un-read woke rubbish into existence. Because I don't believe that book-buying public has gone away; we've just stopped buying the rubbish that the industry promotes. [But now permit me to disagree a little. I'm British, not American, but your characterisation of Conservatives as somehow anti-culture because we (according to this piece) dislike messiness/diversity feels "not quite" to me. I'm only 53. For most of that span, "culture" was neither "liberal" (in US terms) nor Tory (in mine), but a genuinely plural field. My 'canon' growing up was George Eliot (radical), Austen (definitely Tory), Iris Murdoch (started radical, ended Tory), Graham Greene (catholic-but-radical), Philip Roth (can you imagine a Roth novel about today's academy?! so yes, a 'liberal', but not a 2023 one) and so on - and that was just the books. The music I love was unashamedly for the *music* (no-one reinterpreted Beethoven to be "about" India or whatever), and one could go and see a new play out of genuine curiosity rather than with the creeping sense of doom that one was about to lectured to about an a-historical take on history by a gamma-minus intellect whose ouvre wouldn't be seen without massive, biased public subsidy (modern London theatre.) So we've lost something - all of us, Conservatives and liberals - because of woke-ism. I'm not quite disagreeing I see. Anyway thank you - I love your writing (as is embarrassingly obvious!)
Good one. I'm in search of a good 'book person' to shepherd my latest endeavor. I just got a nice rejection from Heresy Press. Looking forward to m... Actually, I'm hoping and praying for that book person who is thrilled by a well told story, no matter where it is set, when, and who is telling it. Pray God I'll find one before the world blows up.
This morning, I was making some notes on an Iron Maiden album that I intend to write about. I have never really intellectualised their music before; I just listen to it sometimes. However, one thing that did occur to me is that, to fully appreciate a band like the Irons (and, to an extent, any band) you have to suspend your own notions of reality and give yourself over to their vision.
Ideally this is a similar thing to what editors should be doing – withholding prejudice and preconception, seeking to understand and engage with an author's perspective, and imposing as little of themselves on the work as possible. I know there are exceptions – Lish, who you mention, is a good example of an aggressive co-authoring style that was bound to end in acrimony.
I hope we will begin to see less of that dreaded modern literary archetype – the activist/sensitivity reader editorial gestalt and their metropolitan tunnel vision. The walls of legacy publishing are crumbling. In their unfortifying position I would be throwing the gates wide open and seeing who or what pours through.
"Ideally this is a similar thing to what editors should be doing – withholding prejudice and preconception, seeking to understand and engage with an author's perspective, and imposing as little of themselves on the work as possible."
Given that the coastal-woke-identity-obsessed books don't seem to be selling, why do you think publishers continue to let these editors push those books? The big publishers are big companies that have to turn profit, so isn't there some honcho somewhere saying, "Where's the money?"
Also, thanks for mentioning Larry Brown the other day. I hadn't read him before, but am almost finished with 'Tiny Love' and it's one of the best short story collections I've read in a while. Lots of heart and humor.
As a full-time freelance nonfiction editor who has worked in NYC publishing and completed the Columbia Publishing Course, this hits close to home, and I agree with a lot of your critique. The industry is too insular, and ironically, can feel as parochial as those supposed rubes whose experiences they're all too quick to dismiss.
Small correction, though: those six-week publishing courses don't cost close to $60k, at least none that I'm aware of. The CPC website says it costs $10,500, and NYU's course, which is four weeks, is around $5,000 (but appears not to include room and board). A far better ROI, IMHO, than Columbia's nine-month Masters in Journalism program, which clocks in at $75k!
Another great piece and one I'll be sharing with peers. I think, if I were to distill your argument, what you're looking for is a combination of (a) openness to experience and (b) literary skill.
The former has been very much limited by purity-politics (fear of memetic contamination with microparticles of fascism) and explains the near universal censoriousness at the gatekeeper checkpoints throughout the publishing system.
At this point, I think you've effectively become a leadership figure of sorts, and I don't know how, but I'd love to see a scenario where you get the funding to do your own press and editorial curation - or be the one to hire these editors.
Alex, I thoroughly enjoyed this post. Well said! Especially relevant is how propaganda artistically (and one might argue morally) bankrupts. Are you familiar with Dimitri Shostakovich's 9th symphony? He was a brave dude, daring to poke Stalin's eye with a composition that brutally mocked the Soviet state. (Stalin reportedly left in a rage. Shostakovich lived to tell the tale.) Thanks for outlining a problem, and a cure.
to me, an editor cannot give a shit about "conventional wisdom," what is cool or uncool, and should exclusively give a shit about, "does this work? does this story go somewhere interesting and make sense?" ... that is what an editor does/should do.
"This is a selfish desire, because I’m genuinely interested in America and its people; I think tons of readers—and writers—have the same desire, but they’re not currently being served by the mainstream literary marketplace. We want to know what’s happening outside the big cities and the “cultural” centers over-represented in literary fiction."
Joan Didion and Tonya Harding in the same sentence is making me hopeful the world is righting itself. Thank you for this!
"The problem is that the young cohort of editors who contract literary fiction are hyper-politicized"
Much of those so-called politics are also interpersonal grievances masquerading as something loftier.
I enjoyed reading this very much, and couldn't help coming to the conclusion that the "ideal literary editor" would be *you*; or, at least, that you are an example of *an* ideal literary editor, because of your voracious interest in 'all Americas'. The question is how is that ('that' = a set of editors with your book/life-loving characteristics) funded into existence to compete against the liberal-credentialed machine that currently curates unreadable, un-read woke rubbish into existence. Because I don't believe that book-buying public has gone away; we've just stopped buying the rubbish that the industry promotes. [But now permit me to disagree a little. I'm British, not American, but your characterisation of Conservatives as somehow anti-culture because we (according to this piece) dislike messiness/diversity feels "not quite" to me. I'm only 53. For most of that span, "culture" was neither "liberal" (in US terms) nor Tory (in mine), but a genuinely plural field. My 'canon' growing up was George Eliot (radical), Austen (definitely Tory), Iris Murdoch (started radical, ended Tory), Graham Greene (catholic-but-radical), Philip Roth (can you imagine a Roth novel about today's academy?! so yes, a 'liberal', but not a 2023 one) and so on - and that was just the books. The music I love was unashamedly for the *music* (no-one reinterpreted Beethoven to be "about" India or whatever), and one could go and see a new play out of genuine curiosity rather than with the creeping sense of doom that one was about to lectured to about an a-historical take on history by a gamma-minus intellect whose ouvre wouldn't be seen without massive, biased public subsidy (modern London theatre.) So we've lost something - all of us, Conservatives and liberals - because of woke-ism. I'm not quite disagreeing I see. Anyway thank you - I love your writing (as is embarrassingly obvious!)
I thought the same thing
You’ve captured and distilled my thoughts and experiences here perfectly. Thank you. I have but one quibble. Who doesn’t like enchiladas?
Ha!
Amen, Alex, so well-said!
Good one. I'm in search of a good 'book person' to shepherd my latest endeavor. I just got a nice rejection from Heresy Press. Looking forward to m... Actually, I'm hoping and praying for that book person who is thrilled by a well told story, no matter where it is set, when, and who is telling it. Pray God I'll find one before the world blows up.
I feel you! I just self published my punk rock literary YA novel after years of agent reads/rejections, some because I'm a white straight male.
I wrote on this here: https://michaelmohr.substack.com/p/literary-agent-rejections
This morning, I was making some notes on an Iron Maiden album that I intend to write about. I have never really intellectualised their music before; I just listen to it sometimes. However, one thing that did occur to me is that, to fully appreciate a band like the Irons (and, to an extent, any band) you have to suspend your own notions of reality and give yourself over to their vision.
Ideally this is a similar thing to what editors should be doing – withholding prejudice and preconception, seeking to understand and engage with an author's perspective, and imposing as little of themselves on the work as possible. I know there are exceptions – Lish, who you mention, is a good example of an aggressive co-authoring style that was bound to end in acrimony.
I hope we will begin to see less of that dreaded modern literary archetype – the activist/sensitivity reader editorial gestalt and their metropolitan tunnel vision. The walls of legacy publishing are crumbling. In their unfortifying position I would be throwing the gates wide open and seeing who or what pours through.
"Ideally this is a similar thing to what editors should be doing – withholding prejudice and preconception, seeking to understand and engage with an author's perspective, and imposing as little of themselves on the work as possible."
Brilliantly put 🤘🤘
Given that the coastal-woke-identity-obsessed books don't seem to be selling, why do you think publishers continue to let these editors push those books? The big publishers are big companies that have to turn profit, so isn't there some honcho somewhere saying, "Where's the money?"
Also, thanks for mentioning Larry Brown the other day. I hadn't read him before, but am almost finished with 'Tiny Love' and it's one of the best short story collections I've read in a while. Lots of heart and humor.
Because those companies also sell a wealth of woke-identity-obsessed books that are lowbrow YA and romance novels that sell well, I presume.
Some sell, like White Fragility (unfortunately)
Alex, thank you for this. This is a great piece and it eloquently speaks my mind on the subject of American writing and writers today.
As a full-time freelance nonfiction editor who has worked in NYC publishing and completed the Columbia Publishing Course, this hits close to home, and I agree with a lot of your critique. The industry is too insular, and ironically, can feel as parochial as those supposed rubes whose experiences they're all too quick to dismiss.
Small correction, though: those six-week publishing courses don't cost close to $60k, at least none that I'm aware of. The CPC website says it costs $10,500, and NYU's course, which is four weeks, is around $5,000 (but appears not to include room and board). A far better ROI, IMHO, than Columbia's nine-month Masters in Journalism program, which clocks in at $75k!
👍👍
Great post. Related thoughts here:
https://open.substack.com/pub/mayasinha/p/literary-fictions-uptown-problem?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=bcxej
Another great piece and one I'll be sharing with peers. I think, if I were to distill your argument, what you're looking for is a combination of (a) openness to experience and (b) literary skill.
The former has been very much limited by purity-politics (fear of memetic contamination with microparticles of fascism) and explains the near universal censoriousness at the gatekeeper checkpoints throughout the publishing system.
At this point, I think you've effectively become a leadership figure of sorts, and I don't know how, but I'd love to see a scenario where you get the funding to do your own press and editorial curation - or be the one to hire these editors.
Rooting for you the max degree!
I thought that too: He should start his own little press. People would jump on it. There's a major need.
Alex, I thoroughly enjoyed this post. Well said! Especially relevant is how propaganda artistically (and one might argue morally) bankrupts. Are you familiar with Dimitri Shostakovich's 9th symphony? He was a brave dude, daring to poke Stalin's eye with a composition that brutally mocked the Soviet state. (Stalin reportedly left in a rage. Shostakovich lived to tell the tale.) Thanks for outlining a problem, and a cure.
👍👍
to me, an editor cannot give a shit about "conventional wisdom," what is cool or uncool, and should exclusively give a shit about, "does this work? does this story go somewhere interesting and make sense?" ... that is what an editor does/should do.
"This is a selfish desire, because I’m genuinely interested in America and its people; I think tons of readers—and writers—have the same desire, but they’re not currently being served by the mainstream literary marketplace. We want to know what’s happening outside the big cities and the “cultural” centers over-represented in literary fiction."
Amen. Preach it, brotha!
Michael Mohr
Sincere American Writing
https://michaelmohr.substack.com/