My Mentor: A Young Writer's Friendship with William Maxwell – The New Yorker Editor's Lessons on Language and the Craft

by Alec Wilkinson

A compelling reflection on wisdom, friendship, and the craft of writing, My Mentor is also the touching story of a young man's education at the hands of a master, William Maxwell. At age twenty-four, Alec Wilkinson approached Maxwell in hopes of being taught to write. A quarter century of friendship followed.
As a fiction editor of The New Yorker, Maxwell was unquestionably one of the past century's most respected editors; as the author of the masterpieces They Came Like Swallows and So Long, See You Tomorrow, he was one of its greatest American writers. His unparalleled ear for language and eye for detail, his depth of understanding and experience, make his instructions on writing an essential guide to the craft. In honoring this great man of letters, Wilkinson creates a "deft and sympathetic portrait" (New York Times Book Review).

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction

180 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Mohammad حکمت]

The books is about one of my favorite authors so things can hardly go wrong but the best parts of the book were direct quotes from Maxwell himself. In the end, the book actually managed to show the genius of William Maxwell, as intended. Alec Wilkinson is an accomplished writer in his own right but the contrast between his writing and what was directly quoted from Maxwell's work only accentuated Maxwell's uncanny depth of thought and mastery of language.

There is a passage in the book from Maxwell describing a day when he was watching through binoculars a gardener mowing grass, which then morphs into his musing on how the senses work together. Lovely piece!

[David]

This was an affecting record of Wilkinson's relationship with the wonderful William Maxwell, but seemed to meander a bit. Also didn't deliver on what I took to be its promise to get inside of their very close editorial relationship: I wanted to hear a great deal more about how, precisely, Maxwell helped his writing.

[Laura Harrington]

This is a remarkable book about writing and writers, which is not an easy thing to write about well. I love William Maxwell and this portrait of him gave me new insights into the man and his work and his capacity for friendship.

[David Curry]

About halfway through Alec Wilkinson’s MY MENTOR: A YOUNG MAN’S FRIENDSHIP WITH WILLIAM MAXWELL, I was ready to dismiss it as an opportunistic effort. At least a third of what I’d read had been quotations from Maxwell’s writing, as if that had helped Wilkinson, with little of his own to contribute, to amass a manuscript.

Then something clicked, and the rare relationship between the young man and the elder one began to come clear and shine, so that by the end of the book I was deeply moved.

This brief memoir is well worth a reader’s time, if only for the quotes from the legendary author and editor Maxwell. At one point young Wilkinson shows Maxwell a manuscript. When Maxwell comes to an overwrought passage, he asks Wilkinson what it’s supposed to mean. Wilkinson explains, and Maxwell tells him to write that down, just like that, that it’s what he intended to say.

[AFMasten]

"...writing, even at its most difficult, is a privilege." 98

"Somewhat subversively, he believed that the patterns of ordinary life, acutely observed, provide more drama and structure and emotional resonance than purely imagined events are likely to." 94

[Olga Vannucci]

The father you get to select
Is the one that will suit you the best.

[Vincent DiGirolamo]

A beautiful book that rewarded a slow second reading. The flawless sentences, the gentle yet compelling tone, the enviable relationship it portrays, and its insights about fathers and surrogate fathers. How do we learn to be men, writers, fathers, husbands? Must always be careful. Young people may be paying attention. The parting scenes at the end of the book tell it like it is, having lost my father recently. Time now to read one of Maxwell's novels so the mentoring that Wilkinson shares can continue, and also for the sure pleasure of the reading.

[Unbridled]

Very nice. Touching and light. Maxwell was a very good man.

[Anne, Unfinished Woman]

First Edition, 2002, Houghton Mifflin Company, Cloth
Second Hand Prose: $22.00 (3.00)
Author: American