Gordon Lish, praised for his virtuosity and attacked for his ideas, has earned a distinctive reputation in contemporary fiction as an author, editor, and teacher of the writing of fiction. He has crafted novels and short-story collections in a variety of styles and voices that demonstrate his command of the language and serve as examples of his thoughts on the shape of modern fiction. His problematic writing style, while not immensely popular with the general reading public, is both esteemed and vilified by literary critics.

During his 1969-1977 tenure as the fiction editor at Esquire, Lish selected work by John Cheever and Grace Paley, thus giving their masterly short stories a wider readership. He used the influential magazine to introduce new and talented writers such as Barry Hannah, T. Coraghessan Boyle, Reynolds Price, and Cynthia Ozick. As a senior editor at the Alfred A. Knopf publishing house since...