Most people probably have never heard of Gary Fisketjon but he was the classic guy-behind-the-guy. He was a NYC book editor during it's last hey-day of publishing glory in the 1980s and '90s, and he edited the novels of some of the biggest writers of that era -- Jay McInerney, Brett Easton Ellis, Donna Tartt -- as well as some "old pioneers" including Patricia Highsmith, Tobias Wolff and Cormac McCarthy (amongst many others).
Because of him, novels like Bright Lights, Big City, American Psycho, No Country for Old Men (that became a Best Picture Oscar winner in 2008), and many, many others.
Fisketjon has died at the age of 72 and we probably won't see the likes of him again. Great writers always, always, always, have great editors. Writers create the clay of a book but the editors help to shape and refine it to become a polished, sometimes classic work. Fitzgerald had Maxwell Perkins, Robert Caro had Robert Gottlieb -- heck, Scorsese has Thelma Schoonmaker (although they're in movies obviously) -- point is, great editors make great writers.
Today there are very few book editors left, and even fewer of Gary Fisketjon's caliber. The culture is pooer for it, and his loss is both personal for his friends and family as well as for the culture at large.
FYI: previous Mr NYC interviewee Ross Barkan has a great article on this called The End of the Editor. As usual he writes about this much better than I ever could.
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