"An editor's life is certainly a life of disappointment. No longer would I be the one generating the words. Now my work would be to sublimate the ego: to squeeze the best writerly selves out of staff members, to give them ideas, to kill their infelicities and rescue them from their errors, to soothe and to prod, often in the same breath."
"Ann Godoff, the founder of Penguin Press and the editor of Ron Chernow, Zadie Smith, Salman Rushdie, and Thomas Pynchon, would have despised this obituary. More than any publisher of her generation, she consistently made best sellers out of prestige titles. But for all her gifts for marketing, she abhorred seeing her name in the newspaper and went to great efforts to prevent it from happening."
"She cared passionately about the aesthetic of book jackets; less so about her own self-presentation. During the decade I worked with her, I so craved her approval that I always thought twice before expressing my gratitude, for fear that it might be received as the inauthentic palaver she detested."
The author reflects on becoming an editor at age 30 and learning that the role requires sublimating ego to develop writers' talents. Initially, the author struggled with this self-effacement, missing the ability to claim their own byline and arguments. Ann Godoff, founder of Penguin Press and editor of major authors including Ron Chernow, Zadie Smith, Salman Rushdie, and Thomas Pynchon, represented the pinnacle of editorial self-effacement. Despite her remarkable success in making prestigious titles into bestsellers, Godoff actively avoided publicity, never spoke to the press, and shunned social gatherings. She focused intensely on book aesthetics and author development rather than personal recognition, commanding such respect that colleagues hesitated to express gratitude directly.
Read at The Atlantic
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