'Reading like a Regular Citizen': Professional Editors on Responding to Writing.

Teachers and their students can benefit from examining the role of professional editors and their response to writing. The editor's role lies primarily in giving service to the writer, the reader, the publishing house, and the power of the written word. Editors like Harold Ross and Max Perkins have evoked the trust of many writers by making sure that each author's ideas were accurately communicated in the text. Saxe Commins excelled at realizing the possibilities in each manuscript he encountered, while Harold Ross viewed his work as a collaborative activity with the author. Among others, Jonathan Galassi and Burroughs Mitchell have commented on editors' dual responsibilities to the writer and the publishing staff. How editors react to these dual pressures has a great impact on what eventually gets into print. Joyce Carol Oates excels in fostering and showcasing many writers' talents. Richard McGuire has asserted that the editor can best reconcile these various roles by simultaneously being faithful to one's own mind and to the mind of the text and, in essence, reading "like a regular citizen." Scott Berg's book "Max Perkins: Editor of Genius" provides an excellent example of this editorial approach. (JD)