Sublime

His nonfiction persona was, as Wallace told an interviewer, “a little stupider and shmuckier than I am.”

"I never saw a forest so petted,

Malcolm Cowley assisted me in three important ways: His New Yorker profile of Perkins, “Unshaken Friend,” published in 1944, was the most comprehensive account of Perkins’s life to date.

galuptious

Paul’s sense of humor—he was wickedly funny—or his sweetness and tenderness, the value he placed on relationships with friends and family. But this is the book he wrote; this was his voice during this time; this was his message during this time; this was what he wrote when he needed to write it. Indeed, the version of Paul I miss most, more even

“Why don’t you write yourself?” she inquired in a letter. “I have a feeling you could write so much better than most of the people who do write.” Perkins delivered his response when they met next. She recalled, “Max just stared at me for a long time and said, ‘Because I’m an editor.’