From school, I vaguely remember a person claiming to be a careers officer. I cannot remember what the dickens his name was. What I do not remember is any child aspiring to be an Editor when he or she growd up.
Best say then, in my most polite terms, the position of literary editor may be a fall-back position. In terms less polite, most editors are educated but failed authors. I have heard aspiring novelists refer to their work as their baby. Would you put your work in the hands of one whose own offspring were so sickly they did not reach maturity?

Perhaps it is madness to allow one to apply his own failed methods to your art. The question must be raised. Within the mind of the editor, does any bitterness of his failure remain?

Would the editor see a beauty in your art greater than he could achieve himself? Is it possible through editing he may try to plant his own seed within? Should you beware of the hand that rocks the cradle. If you did search his domain, I suspect you may find hidden inside a vault of steel the bodies of many infants. After all is said and done, is not an editor to literature as a butcher is to meat?

 


Comments

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 13:53:47

Answers to questions in order asked :

Probably not, though we have to remember that just because our job is a plumber, it does not prevent us from springing a leak.
Yes, I am sure it does. And bitterness can be a very disturbing emotion with many implications for the person feeling it and towards the person directed.
He might see it - but whether he would acknowledge it to the world is another matter.
Absolutely possible and even likely.
I am wary of rocking cradles - any movement as such to myself makes me distinctly nauseous.
Yes - and bitchers seem to be a dying profession.......

 

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 13:55:05

Typo - for bitchers read BUTCHERS.

 



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