Evelyn read Diana Athill's memoir Somewhere Towards the End and thought I might enjoy this earlier book about her career as an editor. Athill has a wonderfully chatty style that makes her a pleasurable companion as she gossips about about writers and publishers in post-war England. I have to say, though, that I would probably find her less charming if I had to work with her. As she warns us on page 6:
One thing the book made me conscious of was how many great books there are that few people ever hear about. Based on Athill's recommendations, I might consider Striker by Michael Irwin and Azadi by Chaman Nahal.
Although for all my life I have been much nearer poor than rich, I have inherited a symptom of richness: I have a strong propensity for idleness. Somewhere within me lurks an unregenerate creature which feels that money ought to fall from the sky, like rain. Should it fail to do so -- too bad: like a farmer enduring a drought one should get by somehow, or go under, which would be unpleasant but not so unpleasant as having blighted one's days by bothering about money. ... although I never went so far as to choose to do nothing, I did find it almost impossible to do anything I didn't want to do. Whether it was 'cannot' or 'will not' I don't know, but it felt like 'cannot'...I would find this attitude infuriating. I would also be driven mad by much of the behavior Athill reports from her publisher Andre Deutsch and the writers Jean Rhys, Brian Moore, and V.S. Naipaul. But when Athill reports on writers behaving badly, she demonstrates the virtue that surely made her a great editor: she describes their motivations in their own terms rather than judging them from hers.
One thing the book made me conscious of was how many great books there are that few people ever hear about. Based on Athill's recommendations, I might consider Striker by Michael Irwin and Azadi by Chaman Nahal.
No comments:
Post a Comment