What Writers and Editors Do
I was in a writing group at one point and one of the members of the group happened to have studied Gordon Lish extensively; I think studied under him directly for a bit and more or less worshiped the guy as a guru. It was kind of an interesting dynamic--here was an aspiring writer whose hero was an editor, but it shows Lish&#x27;s impact on American letters.<p>From what I&#x27;ve understood from others, Lish was (again, this is just hearsay) kind of a dick. The guy in the writing group that loved him was definitely a dick (no hearsay). It was a small group formed with the intention of taking a more positive, but still honest, tack to critiquing each other&#x27;s works, since it can often be such a harsh experience and the passion, scrutiny, and energy of people&#x27;s critiques often outweigh the passion, scrutiny, and energy they put into their writing--this guy did not want to buy into the rest of the group&#x27;s philosophy.<p>Now, whenever I read anything Lish has touched I can&#x27;t help but feel it comes off sort of dickish and he is the embodiment of the cruel, unrepentant editor&#x2F;critic to me, though undeservedly so.