Reviews for The Sons of Maxwell Perkins: Letters of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe, and Their Editor

The average rating for The Sons of Maxwell Perkins: Letters of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe, and Their Editor based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-02-24 00:00:00 Richard Gouse Arguably the three most influential writers of their time--their backgrounds, personalities and styles so different that together they coveted and captured a wide array of readers--Fitzgerald, Hemingway and Wolfe had the kind of steep, dramatic and ultimately tragic arcs as their characters. Many of whom were autobiographical. And at the center of the maelstrom was their Scribner's editor, Maxwell Perkins. Father to five daughters and a man who seemed to hunger for and revel in the large part he played in the lives and works of these three writers. The editors of this collection of their letters, telegrams, and other forms of correspondence, do a fine job of picking, choosing and editing the letters. They also craftily leave uncut the exceedingly long, rambling, paranoid and grandiose letters that Wolfe (never succinct) wrote to Perkins as their personal relationship and the writer-publisher relationship was falling to pieces. All three writers died tragically, although the letters in the books only cover the deaths of Wolfe (tuberculosis of the brain) and Fitzgerald (heart attack). Perkins' sorrow is clear. Although most of the letters are light on the "how to" of writing, their are plenty of insights for the practitioner.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-04-01 00:00:00 Mark Waner Used this as a bit of background research for a discussion of The Great Gatsby I led at the library in March 2013; I used approximately the first 50 pages. Interesting back-and-forth between Fitzgerald and Perkins regarding edits to the manuscript, changes to the title and dust jacket (FSF's concerns that there should be no blurbs from other authors, and that plot points not be given away), and reactions to the initial sales.