Robert Gottlieb (1931-2023)
June 14, 2023 5:29 PM Subscribe
"These two secular Talmudists are hunched over the page, sharing a pencil and arguing about matters of punctuation, syntax, rhythm, and clarity. There is a deep bond between them, a distinctly unsentimental partnership in which everything is about purpose, choices, and decisions, never sloppy praise or even encouragement." Legendary editor Robert Gottlieb, who handled everyone from Robert A. Caro to Toni Morrison to Joseph Heller's Catch-22, has passed away at the age of 92.
This post was deleted for the following reason: Poster's Request -- Brandon Blatcher
MetaFilter: intense, wary, mysterious.
posted by doctornemo at 6:18 PM on June 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by doctornemo at 6:18 PM on June 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
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Somewhat related: let's all send good vibes to 87-year-old Robert Caro as he keeps plugging away at Vol. 5 of "The Years of Lyndon Johnson." The two men appeared in a documentary about their working relationship just last year.
posted by fortitude25 at 6:26 PM on June 14, 2023 [13 favorites]
Somewhat related: let's all send good vibes to 87-year-old Robert Caro as he keeps plugging away at Vol. 5 of "The Years of Lyndon Johnson." The two men appeared in a documentary about their working relationship just last year.
posted by fortitude25 at 6:26 PM on June 14, 2023 [13 favorites]
fortitude25, you will enjoy the final paragraph of the above New Yorker tribute.
posted by gwint at 6:32 PM on June 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by gwint at 6:32 PM on June 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
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posted by JoeXIII007 at 9:34 PM on June 14, 2023
posted by JoeXIII007 at 9:34 PM on June 14, 2023
Reviewed RogerEbert.com
Streaming on VUDU
Huge piece in Vanity Fair, not just about Gottlieb but rather about Catch 22 from note cards to published literary phenomenon. It is a great piece, behind a paywall but they let me in as a one-time visitor. It is not *just* about Gottlieb and his massive contribution to Catch 22 from two chapters as much on note cards as on paper to the literary phenomenon it became but also about that period of time at Simon & Schuster, huge changes, and very good ones, though no one knew that as it was shaking out. (fyi, Richard L. Simon, co founder Simon and Shuster, had a famous daughter named "Carly.}
In one article which I cannot find (because I am not Jessamyn, able to turn any search into gold) an article about Heller and Gofttieb and Catch 22 stated that Gottlieb had edited more than anyone he knew had ever read. I have no reason to doubt it. I also came from that article knowing that if you had Gottlieb editing your book you've been lucky enough to enter into a partnership with one of the smartest, strongest, yet quietest editor that there is, like having Schwarzenegger backing you up if you're lifting weights. Catch 22 by Joseph Heller and Robert Gottlieb is how it should read, but even the slightest breath of that will have Gottlieb jumping up and down, barking and snarling, perhaps hooting also. He is perfectly clear: I am an editor..
We got lucky. 92 years is a long run. He has given us so much.
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posted by dancestoblue at 2:04 AM on June 15, 2023 [5 favorites]
Streaming on VUDU
Huge piece in Vanity Fair, not just about Gottlieb but rather about Catch 22 from note cards to published literary phenomenon. It is a great piece, behind a paywall but they let me in as a one-time visitor. It is not *just* about Gottlieb and his massive contribution to Catch 22 from two chapters as much on note cards as on paper to the literary phenomenon it became but also about that period of time at Simon & Schuster, huge changes, and very good ones, though no one knew that as it was shaking out. (fyi, Richard L. Simon, co founder Simon and Shuster, had a famous daughter named "Carly.}
In one article which I cannot find (because I am not Jessamyn, able to turn any search into gold) an article about Heller and Gofttieb and Catch 22 stated that Gottlieb had edited more than anyone he knew had ever read. I have no reason to doubt it. I also came from that article knowing that if you had Gottlieb editing your book you've been lucky enough to enter into a partnership with one of the smartest, strongest, yet quietest editor that there is, like having Schwarzenegger backing you up if you're lifting weights. Catch 22 by Joseph Heller and Robert Gottlieb is how it should read, but even the slightest breath of that will have Gottlieb jumping up and down, barking and snarling, perhaps hooting also. He is perfectly clear: I am an editor..
We got lucky. 92 years is a long run. He has given us so much.
.
posted by dancestoblue at 2:04 AM on June 15, 2023 [5 favorites]
This piece in The Guardian has pieces of the article wherein Gottlieb insists that an editor is, well, an editor.
It is *not* the piece I read (New York Review of Books maybe, or NYTimes, or New Yorker, or ?? which focused much more on Gottlieb, Heller, Catch 22, the writing collaboration which gave us that magnificent book.
So while it isn't the piece I hoped to find, it is at least in the same neighborhood, including some direct quotes from the piece I read. (unaccredited quotes, dang it.)
posted by dancestoblue at 2:51 AM on June 15, 2023
It is *not* the piece I read (New York Review of Books maybe, or NYTimes, or New Yorker, or ?? which focused much more on Gottlieb, Heller, Catch 22, the writing collaboration which gave us that magnificent book.
So while it isn't the piece I hoped to find, it is at least in the same neighborhood, including some direct quotes from the piece I read. (unaccredited quotes, dang it.)
posted by dancestoblue at 2:51 AM on June 15, 2023
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posted by From Bklyn at 2:56 PM on June 15, 2023
posted by From Bklyn at 2:56 PM on June 15, 2023
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posted by HandfulOfDust at 1:12 AM on June 16, 2023
posted by HandfulOfDust at 1:12 AM on June 16, 2023
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posted by LobsterMitten at 11:38 AM on June 16, 2023
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:38 AM on June 16, 2023
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