Max and Marjorie: The Correspondence between Maxwell E. Perkins and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
Maxwell Perkins was an obscure figure to the reading public until A. Scott Berg's Max Perkins: Editor of Genius (LJ 6/1/78) told the story of his heroic efforts in developing the work of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe, and other important 20th-century writers. Here Tarr, a Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings scholar, publishes the entire correspondence between the editor and Rawlings, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Yearling. Some 698 letters, notes, and telegrams are annotated and set in chronological order, starting with Perkins's encouraging response to Rawlings's submission to a short story contest in 1930. These wonderful letters reveal the intricate working interplay between an author and editor and the unfolding of a personal friendship between two remarkable people. Additionally, the reader is treated to a first-person account of the workings of the legendary publisher Charles Scribner's Sons and candid gossip about Perkins's other authors. Perkins's immense correspondence has resulted in a number of fine books: Editor to Author: The Letters of Maxwell Perkins (Cherokee Pub., 1991), Dear Scott, Dear Max: The Fitzgerald-Perkins Correspondence (S. & S., 1991), and The Only Thing That Counts: The Ernest Hemingway/ Maxwell Perkins Correspondence 1925-1947 (LJ 10/1/96). This contribution is highly recommended for larger libraries collecting American literature.APaul A. D'Alessandro, Portland P.L., MECopyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.