Diana Athill, still alive and feisty at the age of ninety-five, wrote her memoir Stet: An Editor’s Life while in her eighties. She has a strong and sassy voice that at first came off as grumpy which made me worry a little until I got to know her better. By the end of the book I was wishing we were friends so I could call her up for a lunch date.
Stet is a copy-editing term meaning “let it stand.” Athill’s memoir, Stet is broken into two parts. The first half is about how she came to be a founding editor of Andre Deutsch publishing. The second half is stories and reminiscence about a few authors who had a big impact on her. And what a fun ride the book is. Athill had the luck and pleasure to work in publishing from just after WWII until the mid 1980s. And all my romantic notions about what it is like to work for an important publisher, she lived them. Poorly paid, cramped offices, personalities to deal with (both authors and coworkers), lots to learn from some big mistakes, all made up for by meeting interesting people, the intellectual stimulation, and of course the books.
Throughout the book Athill drops the pearls of her editing experience. At one point she is talking about suggesting changes to the authors of their work and how most of the time authors were grateful and accepting of her suggestions. And then she says something really interesting:
mostly, if what is said by an attentive reader makes sense, the writer is pleased to comply. Writers don’t encounter really attentive readers as often as you might expect, and find them balm to their twitchy nerves when they do; which gives editors a good start with them.
I had never thought about how infrequently writers encounter attentive readers before. I now feel a little guilty for not always giving a book my full attention.
I had a good chuckle when Athill talks about the “pull of mystification” as in when you read a book and are totally baffled by it to the point of believing that it isn’t the book that is the problem but you the reader and so you end up thinking the book is brilliant because you don’t understand it. Athill has fallen prey to it but quickly learned how to suss it out. Nonetheless, she says, a good deal of junk masquerading as art gets published that way.
While an editor, Athill had two ground rules, don’t over-tinker with an author’s manuscript and never make changes the author does not agree to. Simple but not always easy.
The second half of the book is fun and dangerous. Fun because you get the inside scoop on what it was like to work with the likes of Jean Rhys and V.S. Naipaul. Dangerous because she title drops and gushes like crazy about books she has especially loved. Mount TBR grew several feet taller!
This is not a deep thinker of a book but it is lots of fun. I read it for the Slaves of Golconda group read. I thought the discussion started today but it turns out it starts tomorrow so I am a bit early. Others will be posting on their own blogs, on the Slaves’ blog and the discussion will likely carry over into our forum. Of course everyone is welcome to comment and join in!
Oh thanks for this Stefanie … it’s a book I can see buying for a couple of people, and then borrowing it from one of them. I’d never heard of her or it before.
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whisperinggums, LOL, I’ve done that before, bought a book for someone and then asked to borrow it 🙂
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I often plan that … Usually it’s for my Mum … And then don’t get to read it. Stet is ordered and will be her Mother’s Day gift. I hope she doesn’t read this! She reads my blog but not much else I think!
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heh, I usually do that for Bookman and then have to wait patiently for him to read it before grabbing it. Don’t want to be too obvious! I hope your mother, and you, like Stet!
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I decided I would have loved to have her as a colleague. She seemed like just the kind of editor I want to be, although I do like the detail work that she’s not so interested in. I share her loathing of thinking about advertising, and I’m glad to not have to deal with such temperamental authors–I think that might be a difference between book and magazine editing, although I could see plenty of commonalities too.
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It is probably foolish to over romanticize past publishing but I wonder if an equivalent memoir will be possible in the future. Interesting her comment about junk masquerading as art getting published (more often?).
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Ian, one does have to wonder if the days of really involved editors are over. We’ll find out in twenty years or so. I thought her junk comment interesting too especially from a reader’s standpoint. There are times when I’ve been baffled by something and wondered if it was me so it is good to know that even editors have moments like that and even fail to recognize that the problem is the book and the not the reader.
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Teresa, no temperamental authors in the magazine world? That must be a big plus! She would make a good colleague, good at her job, reliable and pleasant.
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Oh, there are some, but not many that I’ve come across in my little corner of the industry. And editing an article is not the long-term commitment editing a book is, which I’m sure makes a difference.
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Our library system does not have Stet, so I was unable to read along. I did, however, borrow Somewhere Toward The End, which I finished a few weeks ago. I not only expected to love it I wanted to love it, but I didn’t. I’m not quite sure why. She was fearless in its telling and did not hold back when examining even the most intimate of her failures – she did not sugar coat her life or herself. I think that because she is so brutally honest about herself, I got to know who she is. And although I find her interesting, I discovered as well that I may not want to spend a great deal of time chatting with her. I found her a bit depressing. That opinion might fly out the window if I read Stet; however, since it seems to be a completely different sort of book. I’ll keep an open mind if I ever have the chance to read it.
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Grad, so sorry you couldn’t read along! It’s too bad you didn’t like Somewhere Toward the End. She doesn’t sugar coat things in Stet either even when they are her own failings. In Stet she is very breezy and cheerful but keeps much of her personal life out of the book. I imagine I would have to reassess a bit were I to read any of her other books.
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Hi Stefanie,
If you liked Stet (as I did), I heartily recommend some of Athill’s other books of memoir, especially Yesterday Morning and Instead of a Letter. In these books, she comes roaring forth with the full force of her dazzling honesty, fierce humor, and beautiful sensibility. And the touch of melancholy makes it all the more enthralling. There’s a little bit of overlap between the books, but I think that’s part of the charm… it’s like listening to a grandmother repeat the same stories.
Like Grad above, I thought Somewhere Towards the End was a little bit weaker than her other books. Maybe it’s because it was obviously so much darker.
Here’s to Athill, a truly wonderful writer!
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Charles, thanks for the recommendation of Athill’s other books! I will be sure to look for them. Her honesty in Stet is what got me the most. She freely admits her mistakes and shortcomings.
“it’s like listening to a grandmother repeat the same stories” I like that! 🙂
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She is definitely one of my good finds this year–and I loved her voice, too. Wouldn’t it be fun to sit next to her at a luncheon and listen to her stories? I was surprised that she was so “accepting” of the way things were for women in publishing, but then again maybe not all that surprising really considering the period. She was very good at what she did–and she is so articulate it makes me really curious to read her fiction now!
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Danielle, a luncheon filled with her stories would be marvelous because you know she has some good ones and she wouldn’t have to clean them up for publication! I wonder when she published books how she felt being on the other side of the editor/writer relationship?
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I gave mum Stet for Mother’s Day and she was really thrilled. Said she can’t wait to read it … so glad you told me about it.
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Hooray! I hope she enjoys it!
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I hope so too! Otherwise I’ll blame you!! LOL!
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