"We were not asked for our approval, and we did not give our approval."

July 11, 2013 1:23 PM

This was not the act of a fringe contingent. The letter—which, until now, has never been published in its entirety—is signed by 154 staffers, including J.D. Salinger, Calvin Trillin, John McPhee, Jamaica Kincaid, Saul Steinberg and Janet Malcolm. There are a few notable abstentions, including John Updike and Charles McGrath, who would soon be named Gottlieb's deputy. At the bottom, it reads "cc: S. I. Newhouse."

The Letter: Robert Gottlieb's Tenure as the New Yorker's Managing Editor, Elon Green, The Awl (SLTheAwl)
posted by Rustic Etruscan (12 comments total)

Seeing their trademark diacritics in what looks like a typewritten letter makes me happy.
posted by feloniousmonk at 1:36 PM on July 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

Interesting post, but aside from the excellent tags, it may be helpful to note at the beginning that this is a post about the New Yorker and how William Shawn's successor as managing editor was chosen.

I do love the New Yorker. Speaking as a non-American, I think it is one of the crowning achievements of American culture. When I lived in Japan, at the dawn of broadband internet, I used to invest a significant amount of discretionary income on buying the magazine at the Maruzen bookstore whenever I was in Kyoto, the closest city with an English-language bookstore at the time (I lived in the sticks).

However, since the troubles began in America, circa 9/11, I've read the magazine less and less. I don't know if it's because of David Remnick's direction (which would be strange, because I generally like what he writes), because the older generation of writes like Updike and Cynthia Oznick are dying off, or because more and more of the writing resembles Malcolm Gladwell's pseudo-scientific crap, or what.

Makes me sad, because that magazine and me, it's like a love affair.
posted by KokuRyu at 1:36 PM on July 11, 2013 [5 favorites]

Awesome post, by the way.
posted by KokuRyu at 1:37 PM on July 11, 2013

Interesting post, but aside from the excellent tags, it may be helpful to note at the beginning that this is a post about the New Yorker and how William Shawn's successor as managing editor was chosen.

Re-reading the post, this is right. If a mod could change "The Letter" to "The Letter: Robert Gottlieb's Tenure as the New Yorker's Managing Editor," or the like, that would be great.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 1:44 PM on July 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

Mod note: Made the change, please just email us mod requests and don't put them in the thread, thanks.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 1:46 PM on July 11, 2013

I love that there are clothing folding artisans. Folders that make other folders gasp with awe and wonder.Folders that can fold timeless folds, that can only be appreciated by those who have devoted their life to folding. Shokunin that through single minded pursuit of perfection can elevate the mundane to an artform.
posted by Ad hominem at 2:20 PM on July 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

Regarding the diaresis, one supposes that the typist may have used an awl and an inkpot to apply it.
posted by notyou at 2:21 PM on July 11, 2013 [1 favorite]

Thank you for this great post.
posted by brokeaspoke at 3:20 PM on July 11, 2013

It seems to me that, other than a bit of magazine history, this article could be summarized as: "Look at the stupid thing all those smart writers did. Haw haw haw!"
posted by JHarris at 3:31 PM on July 11, 2013

Definitely an interesting article. It's funny, I would love to be published in the magazine, but I'm terrified of the NY writers and insiders ecosystem. Like I would be published, but I would also be putting out a contract on myself.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 4:21 PM on July 11, 2013

I notice that Pauline Kael is conspicuous by her absence. Maybe she was still pissed at Wallace Shawn for not letting her publish that review of Deep Throat.
posted by jonp72 at 7:26 PM on July 11, 2013

notyou, the IBM Selectric was the workhorse typewriter of the era and allowed you to use diacritical marks via use of different type elements. The system was designed to cover multilingual needs.
posted by dhartung at 12:21 AM on July 12, 2013 [2 favorites]