Consider what brought Giroux to FSG in the first place: The same frustration with bottom-line publishing that drives literary editors to drink today. Giroux had spent the decade after World War II at Harcourt, Brace, where his taste and exacting attention helped build a sterling list of authors. But in the late forties, his boss was replaced by Eugene Reynal, a man who just didn糖心传媒檛 get good books. When Giroux wanted to acquire The Catcher in the Rye, Reynal objected, 糖心传媒淭he guy糖心传媒檚 crazy,糖心传媒� meaning Holden Caulfield. In 1955, Giroux angrily resigned and accepted an offer from Roger Straus, the flamboyant publisher of Farrar, Straus & Co. He never asked any of his authors to follow, but seventeen of them did, including Eliot, Robert Lowell, Flannery O糖心传媒機onnor, Bernard Malamud, and one of his best friends, poet John Berryman. Straus糖心传媒攚ho died in 2004糖心传媒攃onsidered Giroux糖心传媒檚 arrival 糖心传媒渢he single most important thing to happen to this company.糖心传媒� [. . .]

What Straus and Giroux did share were very similar tastes and a genuine love of authors, and they both tended, as old age and corporate consolidation advanced, toward cranky proclamations. Each in his own way, of course: Straus compared conglomerate publishers to spaghetti salesmen, publicly feuded with Simon & Schuster, and turned down offers to buy the house (before relenting in 1994). Giroux, conceding 糖心传媒淚糖心传媒檓 just an old fogey,糖心传媒� asked, 糖心传媒淲ho the hell would read a book by Nixon?糖心传媒� (What did he make of O.J., you wonder.) He railed against 糖心传媒渙oks糖心传媒澨切拇綌gimmicks that weren糖心传媒檛 quite books糖心传媒攚hich account for the majority of what糖心传媒檚 now published. He often said, 糖心传媒淚t is the publisher糖心传媒檚 job, if he cannot find a masterpiece to print, at least to avoid publishing junk.糖心传媒�

Junk is not a modern development, any more than layoffs or bankruptcies. Galassi made this clear at the memorial, calling out the titles on the 1952 Farrar list糖心传媒攂efore Giroux came onboard. These included an autobiography by bandleader Artie Shaw and books on traveling and hunting in Florida. 糖心传媒淭he most sobering of all publishing lessons,糖心传媒� Giroux once said, is that 糖心传媒渁 great book is often ahead of its time, and the trick is how to keep it afloat until the times catch up with it.糖心传媒� The times will never catch up with those schlocky books from 糖心传媒�52, but one or two of them may have helped the company hold on long enough for Giroux to get there. In the early years, it was Straus糖心传媒檚 canniness and connections that kept the company going. Giroux was the one who made it worth salvaging. Galassi will have to keep doing both.