Knowra Maxwell Perkins Maxwell Perkins Maxwell Perkins was an American book editor at Charles Scribner’s Sons who helped shape novels by Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Thomas Wolfe.
F. Scott Fitzgerald : An American novelist and short-story writer whose works include The Great Gatsby. Perkins edited Fitzgerald’s novels and helped sustain his publishing career.
Book editing : The work of preparing manuscripts for publication through selection, revision, and coordination with authors. Perkins’s career exemplifies editorial work conducted through sustained collaboration.
The Great Gatsby : F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel about wealth, desire, and social status in the United States. Perkins edited Fitzgerald’s manuscript and discussed its title and revisions with him.
Literary editor : An editor who selects and develops literary works for publication, often in close collaboration with authors. Perkins became a lasting model of the literary editor as an active creative partner.
Ernest Hemingway : An American novelist and short-story writer known for works including The Sun Also Rises. Perkins edited Hemingway’s early novels and helped bring them to publication.
Editorial intervention : An editor’s substantive changes or suggestions to a manuscript before publication. Perkins’s notes and proposed cuts shaped the structure and length of major novels.
The Sun Also Rises : Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel about expatriates traveling from Paris to Spain. Perkins helped prepare Hemingway’s first major novel for publication.
American literature : Literature written in the United States, spanning diverse periods, forms, and traditions. Perkins’s authors helped define prominent strands of twentieth-century American fiction.
Thomas Wolfe : An American novelist known for expansive autobiographical fiction, including Look Homeward, Angel. Perkins worked closely with Wolfe to edit and publish his long manuscripts.
Manuscript : A text submitted or prepared for publication, often before final copyediting and typesetting. Perkins assessed and revised authors’ manuscripts before they became published books.
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