9 Non-Writers Who Influenced Literary History

Writing a book is usually a long, hair-pulling affair for the author. But in the end, only one name appears on the front of the book: their own.

What often gets lost in the process is the work of others, without whom writing a book would be even more trying. Editors, friends, family, and even public figures can all contribute to the success of a book.

Where would Raymond Carver be without Gordon Lish? Where would Chekhov be without Tolstoy? Where would Proust be without the madeleine?

Now, we've restricted our list to living things (but not necessarily humans!), but here are nine non-writers who helped shape the course of literary history. They should have at least been mentioned on the acknowledgments page.

Which literary influence is heaviest? Whom are we missing? Let us know!

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Maxwell Perkins

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Influenced: Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Thomas Wolfe Often called the most famous literary editor, Maxwell Perkins's resume speaks for itself. He was heavily involved in the development of the following: The Great Gatsby, The Sun Also Rises, The Old Man And The Sea, Cry The Beloved Country, From Here To Eternity, Look Homeward, Angel, and Of Time And The River. Perkins was a close friend of Fitzgerald's (to whom he loaned money) and Hemingway dedicated The Old Man And The Sea to him.

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Influenced: Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Thomas Wolfe

Often called the most famous literary editor, Maxwell Perkins's resume speaks for itself. He was heavily involved in the development of the following: The Great Gatsby, The Sun Also Rises, The Old Man And The Sea, Cry The Beloved Country, From Here To Eternity, Look Homeward, Angel, and Of Time And The River. Perkins was a close friend of Fitzgerald's (to whom he loaned money) and Hemingway dedicated The Old Man And The Sea to him.

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Irrelevant! Instrumental!

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Comments

[ThePlague]

01:12 PM on 11/02/2010

What about Neal Cassidy? I don't think he wrote much himself, but he certainly influenced Alan Ginsberg and is referenced in 'Howl'.

[chercheur]

03:28 AM on 11/01/2010

One publisher who's also worthy of note is George Smith (1789-1846), proprietor of Smith Elder & Co, the firm to which Charlotte Bronte eventually sent a manuscript of THE PROFESSOR, which had been rejected by numerous other publishers. Smith Elder likewise rejected the manuscript but returned it with a polite rejection letter and constructive criticism, encouraging "Currer Bell" (Bronte's pen name) to send any other work she might write in the future. Encouraged, Bronte did send JANE EYRE to Smith Elder, which published it to such success that the novel propelled Smith Elder into publishing prominence, with Bronte herself encouraging other writers to turn to Smith Elder as a publisher.

George Smith himself was the model for the character of Graham (Doctor John) Bretton in Bronte's last novel, VILLETTE, in which Mrs. Bretton (Graham's mother) was also modeled on George Smith's mother.

[ConsensusReality]

09:15 AM on 10/31/2010

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

[naschkatze]

06:41 PM on 10/31/2010

Did you miss the word "literary"?

[ZubinTomato]

12:12 AM on 10/31/2010

A glaring omission from this list is the influence Nicki Hilton had on author Tori Spelling while Tori was penning her Brobdingnagian literary über-opus "sTORI TELLING."

[diannaa]

11:52 PM on 10/30/2010

Warnie Lewis on C.S. Lewis. And the children they took in at wartime. If it wasn't for those little kids, we wouldn't have Narnia.

[ESerafina42]

11:42 PM on 10/30/2010

Gutenberg?

[diannaa]

11:47 PM on 10/30/2010

Hahahha, yeah, I'm going to have to agree with you on that one. You can't have an article title "9 non-writers who influenced literary history," basically asking us to rank them, and not include Gutenberg.

[Mahi Joe]

11:06 AM on 11/02/2010

That should be number 1. excellent.

[beckola]

06:40 PM on 10/30/2010

I did not realize it was Constance Garnett who translated Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, two of my favorite authors. True translation is an art and is so important in carrying the literary work to the masses.

[naschkatze]

06:43 PM on 10/31/2010

You must check out the new translations by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. Some dude named Aylmer Maude translated a lot of Tolstoy.

[beckola]

06:14 PM on 11/03/2010

Thank you. I especially love Dostoevsky and Tolstoy. I will check out Maude very soon, time to re-read War and Peace.

[chercheur]

03:10 AM on 11/01/2010

I was going to post this as a new item, but noticing your post, I think I'll post it as a reply. I like your observation that "True translation is an art," and I'm not sure that translators should be included in this list of "non-writers" and denied their appropriate literary status.

That said, from everything I've ever understood, the Garnett translations are considered outdated Victorian versions. I wonder if the reason they're used in editions like Norton (and ordinarily I have immense respect for Norton Critical Editions) is because they're so old that they're public domain and the publisher doesn't have to pay royalties. Incidentally, Modern Library also tends toward the Garnett translations, but Everyman has some Pevear-Volokhonsky editions.

[blondebeblonde]

02:21 PM on 11/03/2010

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. I agree that translators should be given more credit. Did you read the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series? Without the brilliant translation of Reg Keeland, they would not have been nearly so popular nor enjoyable.

[beckola]

06:12 PM on 11/03/2010

You know, that's probably why I like her...I loved Victorian novels as a teenager and really appreciated the antiquity of the language. Thank you for the information and for your intelligent observations.

[Plissken]

11:45 AM on 10/30/2010

I really do not understand why Ayn Rand has this cult of zombie like followers. She was a terrible writer. I tried reading The Fountainhead one time and found it to be clumsly, purple, crapola. Next to L. Ron Hubbard, Rand may be the single worst writer to ever gain a following. It truly is a mystery to me how this happened. Perhaps its something to do with the way conservatives brains are wired. They seem to have an inability to understand turgid trash (and rediculous lies) when it's presented to them. I wish someone would explain this to me...

[CenaW]

07:09 PM on 10/30/2010

Preaching, it is preaching, that is also the talking style of
Limbaugh, Hannity, Savage, Levin, Beck and the other conservative propagandists.

Then consider, that for some this is a substitute for religion,
for others acceptable and believable because they are religious, and can have beliefs based entirely on un-provable information, but given strong moral attributes and implications.
The capitalist/Ayn Rand libertarians, consider living only for the purpose of acquiring wealth to be a good moral truth.
Thus we have the religious conservatives, believing the ideas of an atheist.

How can we not love it?
If you have ever browsed through any of the books by the current crop of conservatives,
you will discover they all read the same.
If you have ever looked at any books published by any of the conservative think tanks,
you ill find the same style.

Maybe you are onto something, is it a brain disorder, like ADD?

I couldn't get through George Orwell's 1984 when I was young for the same reason I couldn't read Ayn Rand.
I just don't want to be preached to.

Inform me and or
entertain me,
Keep the indoctrination.

[BlueZoo]

09:21 PM on 10/30/2010

I found William F. Buckley's books infinitely readable and I would guess that many current conservatives just copy him rather than trying originality. Then again, it is quite difficult to match wits with a mind as brilliant as Buckley's!

[RolloMartins]

10:41 AM on 10/30/2010

Should have specified Alexander Dumas, pere, or fils. (Was the father,not the son.)

[Anastasia]

10:08 AM on 10/30/2010

A rare, mutual influence occurred between Truman Capote and Harper Lee.

Friends since childhood, Harper Lee helped Capote with research for In Cold Blood. The character, Dill in Lee's To KIll a Mocking Bird was based a Truman as a boy.

[naschkatze]

06:43 PM on 10/31/2010

Good one.

[IndependentGadfly]

08:42 AM on 10/30/2010

Oprah?

[Ayn Ranaway]

07:40 AM on 10/30/2010

follow up:
shouldn't Rand be coupled with Lenin? Think about it:
If the communists hadn't taken her family's store and possessions away there would be no "Atlas Shrugged" and subsequently no Tea Partier's carrying signs saying "I'm John Galt"...

[DisgruntledYouth]

04:53 PM on 10/30/2010

good point. and i'm still waiting for them to stop the motor of the world.

[Ayn Ranaway]

07:35 AM on 10/30/2010

Lists like these are always impossible so I usually wouldn't add my ten cents.
That being said, here is my dime:
Where is Zelda for F. Scott? "Tender is the Night", anyone? Hellooooo pretentious literati commenting here...
You could also make a case for Steinbeck and Charley. Also, McCullers and her husband who tried to convince her to commit suicide with him (his name escapes me) but I'm going to pull an anti-Franzen and say there aren't enough female writers as options...
Gunter Grass and the Hitler Youth, Franzen and Time Magazine, Sartre and Simon de Beauvoir (yes, I had to paste her last name, like I could spell that), Danielle Steel and __________ (insert ghostwriter there).
Oh the list is endless.

[brettrobbins]

07:25 AM on 10/30/2010

No Sylvia Beach? Talk about a credibility-killing oversight.

[MolliBlum]

07:30 AM on 10/30/2010

Don't worry -- she crops up intermittently on this thread, right from the beginning. As does Harriet Shaw Weaver and (my personal favorite) Nora Barnacle. Where would Joyce have been without them?

[MolliBlum]

07:24 AM on 10/30/2010

Beatrice Portinari