The World She Edited: Part Two

The following blog is the second part of my review of The World She Edited by Amy Reading. Reading’s book is a biography of Katharine S. White, famed editor of The New Yorker. In my previous blog, I discussed White’s commitment to precision and accuracy. This week, I’ll highlight her extraordinary ability to cultivate talent among writers.

The New Yorker, especially in its early days, was geared toward a highly specific reader: young, educated, urbane, and sophisticated. The staff were well aware of the magazine’s intended audience. Harold Ross, the editor-in-chief, insisted that the tone of the magazine match its readership. As an editor, White faithfully adhered to this strategy. Her role involved acquiring and editing stories, poems, and reminiscences, and she enthusiastically accepted submissions that were consistent with the tone of magazine. But she also never hesitated to reject those submissions that she deemed unsuitable.

Over time, White developed a reputation for the quality of her editorial comments. Even when rejecting a piece, she provided thoughtful, constructive notes and encouraged writers to resubmit in the future. Upon receiving a critical letter from White, the poet Ogden Nash remarked: “I’ve never had such an excited and interested rejection.” When White had ideas for revisions, she generously expressed them to authors.

One of the most prominent writers who benefited from White’s mentorship was Vladimir Nabokov. Nabokov began submitting poems to The New Yorker in 1941. White’s fellow editors, unable to see beyond Nabokov’s imperfect English, repeatedly dismissed them. But when White came across his work, she was instantly intrigued. She immediately reached out to him and convinced him that he should continue submitting under her guidance. Thus began a longstanding, productive, and at times rocky relationship between the two minds. White worked tirelessly to tweak and revise Nabokov’s essays to bring them in line with the tone of The New Yorker. She edited many of his most acclaimed short stories and even helped him secure book contracts. Nabokov published eleven of the fifteen essays of Conclusive Evidence (his 1951 short story collection) with White at The New Yorker. When the book appeared in print, she wrote: “I feel almost as wrapped up in its success as if I had written it myself.”

Mary McCarthy, another one of White’s illustrious authors, once commented that White was “distinctly on the author’s side.” This was the key to White’s brilliance. She knew how to draw out her authors’ potential, enabling them to break barriers and achieve excellence. It was this skill, combined with her obsessive attention to detail, that distinguished White as a towering force in magazine editing and twentieth-century literature at large.