Write Cut Rewrite: The Cutting Room Floor of Modern Literature is the handsomely laid out and illustrated book accompanying an exhibition of the same name running at the Bodleian until next January, and is written by that exhibition’s curators. Undoubtedly the book would work best if read after viewing the exhibition but it is fascinating and illuminating as a standalone examination of modern works of literature in the process of editing. Numerous Samuel Beckett works feature and the authors analyze how he pruned and changed handwritten drafts at various points in his career. Other famous editing snippets come from Franz Kafka and Jane Austen. I was particularly taken with how books I know and love, by Raymond Chandler, John le Carré, and Philip Pullman metamorphosed, how much repeated effort went into the final works. I have not rated (according to my system) Write Cut Rewrite highly simply because this is a specialized book, but can recommend it to anyone intrigued by literary editing.
Book, movie/show, and album reviews
