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Max Perkins

Max Perkins

William Maxwell Perkins, Born 1884, was the editor for Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Thomas Wolfe, and is regarded as one of the most important Literary editors of all time.



In Chapter 7, Callaghan first meets with Perkins before leaving for Paris, when he visits with the famous editor at his New York office in hope of having his work published. Callaghan depicts Perkins as an anomalous character, whose quirks quickly set Callaghan at ease - commenting that there was:

“something about him that was familiar; it was as if I had met him at university.”

Perkin’s laidback and friendly nature seen throughout the text is reinforced through Callaghans statement that he ‘immediately trusted’ his new colleague, a conviction which wasn’t so common amongst the men of that particular circle.

Through his mediation between Callaghan, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Mcalmon, and other characters, Perkin’s appears to be the universal peacekeeper, offering advice to Callaghan on how to maintain a balance between the social and working aspects of life in 1920’s Paris. This understanding of Perkins can be seen through Voyant’s Word Trend map, through which running a search for ‘Perkins’ and ‘Editor’ enhances our insight into the man. As we can see whilst there
is a more or less steady maintenance of the word ‘Editor’, however it is Perkin’s name that displays a much higher frequency, alluding to the idea that the man was not simply just a Literary acquaintance to the characters of Callaghan’s memoirs, but a trusted friend also.


Callaghan, Morely. 1963. That summer in Paris: Memories of tangled friendships with Ernest Hemingway and Scott Fitzgerald. London MacGibbon & Kee http://fitzgerald.narod.ru/bio/callaghan-thatsum.html

www.Voyant-Tools.org

Bruccoli, Matthew 2004 The Sons of Maxwell Perkins: Letters of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe, and Their Editor. Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press.