This Trade of Writing
by
[Atlantic Monthly Press and Little, Brown, $1.75]
SOME fifteen years ago Edward Weeks, now editor in chief of the Atlantic Monthly Press, decided, against the advice of friends, to take up editing and publishing as his vocation. His friends pointed out a number of professions in which the prospects were much brighter, the financial rewards much greater. It so happened, however, as he makes quite clear in This Trade of Writing, that none of the other professions enticed him; and those who know him are aware that he presents the attractive phenomenon of a man who has survived his fifteen years as fresh and as excited about his chosen work as when he began. During those years he has experienced nearly everything that has to do with books — writing them and about them, editing them and lecturing on them and publishing them, serving as reader and supervisor of prize contests (1400 volumes in six weeks!), fighting to obtain revision of laws on censorship,corresponding and conversing with authors, agents, and other publishers, and, between times, helping to edit the Atlantic Monthly and conducting its Bookshelf. It is not surprising that all this has given him subject matter for a very amusing and instructive book. The mere thought of reading short manuscripts by the bushel and book manuscripts by the ton would make anyone less devoted and enthusiastic turn pale; but he evidently can take such small chores in his stride. He certainly can write about them with glee. The consequence is that, while he does not slight the tribulations of bookmen or the shortcomings of his trade, he never loses his pride in the profession or his conviction that it is great fun after all.
Written in a conversational tone, earnestly but without pretentiousness and entertainingly without frivolity, the book fairly pops with facts of interest to the general reader and to authors, and of quite incalculable value to young writers and literary aspirants. For the beginner the most useful papers are those on how to break into print, on the short story, on verse, on the ‘tools of thought ’ (dictionaries, books of synonyms, and the like), on the relations of author and editor, on methods of composition and the formation of working habits, and on the monetary rewards of authorship; for the general reader and professional authors, those on literary prizes, sex and censorship, the three crises in an author’s life, and the fascinating Appendix, entitled ’A Tonic for Readers,’in which are reprinted lists of the Fifty Best Books in American Literature, of the Twenty-five Most Influential Books Published Since 1885, and of the American Best Sellers Since 1875. These lists offer an almost inexhaustible pastime for winter evenings; for no one will agree with either of the first two and everyone will want to sentimentalize about the third, so much of which has gone with the snows of yesteryear.
R. M. GAY