October 17, 2007
The real Raymond Carver.
Tess Gallagher, the widow of Raymond Carver...is spearheading an effort to publish a volume of 17 original Carver stories whose highly edited versions were published in “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love"...Carver was credited with popularizing a minimalist style. But...Gordon Lish, Carver’s first editor at Alfred A. Knopf, had heavily edited, and in many cases radically cut, the stories...to hone the author’s voice. At the time, Carver begged Mr. Lish to stop production of the book. But Knopf went ahead and published it...
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At what point does the editing process transcend the artist's vision? How collaborative is the writing process? How much credit are editors really due? In film, the editing is recognized as quintessential to the end result. In literature, can an editor really redeem the prose of an otherwise mediocre writer? Can the "voice" of any artist be manufactured? How much does pure blind luck play into all of this? Have we been denied a prodigious talent, due to inept editing? Amazing food for thought. Thanks for finding this.