"I do read everything that we publish. We usually have to have two or three votes for a book before we take it on. So in that sense I suppose it is an orchestra"
About this Quote
Laughlin slips a whole publishing philosophy into a modest shrug. “I do read everything that we publish” isn’t just a flex of diligence; it’s a claim of authorship by curation. New Directions was never meant to be a warehouse of titles. It was a taste machine with a human at the center, insisting that editing is a creative act and that gatekeeping, done well, is a form of responsibility rather than mere power.
The “two or three votes” detail is where the democratic veneer shows its seams. He’s describing consensus, but also insulation: a way to protect the list from a single person’s blind spots, moods, or loyalties. At the same time, he’s hinting at how fragile literary judgment really is. Great books don’t arrive with objective proof; they arrive with advocates. Requiring multiple votes formalizes what every serious editor knows: publishing is persuasion inside a small room.
Then comes the sly metaphor: “in that sense I suppose it is an orchestra.” An orchestra implies coordination, interpretation, and restraint. No single instrument is the music; the music is the arrangement, the timing, the shared standard of what sounds right. Laughlin frames the editor not as a tyrant but as a conductor who still has to listen, who can’t make the violins feel something they don’t. Coming from a poet-publisher who championed modernism, it’s also a quiet defense of difficulty: adventurous literature needs rehearsal, allies, and a disciplined collective ear before it can face an audience.
The “two or three votes” detail is where the democratic veneer shows its seams. He’s describing consensus, but also insulation: a way to protect the list from a single person’s blind spots, moods, or loyalties. At the same time, he’s hinting at how fragile literary judgment really is. Great books don’t arrive with objective proof; they arrive with advocates. Requiring multiple votes formalizes what every serious editor knows: publishing is persuasion inside a small room.
Then comes the sly metaphor: “in that sense I suppose it is an orchestra.” An orchestra implies coordination, interpretation, and restraint. No single instrument is the music; the music is the arrangement, the timing, the shared standard of what sounds right. Laughlin frames the editor not as a tyrant but as a conductor who still has to listen, who can’t make the violins feel something they don’t. Coming from a poet-publisher who championed modernism, it’s also a quiet defense of difficulty: adventurous literature needs rehearsal, allies, and a disciplined collective ear before it can face an audience.
Quote Details
| Topic | Decision-Making |
|---|
More Quotes by James
Add to List
