After working as a reporter for
The New York Times, Perkins joined the publishing house of
Charles Scribner's Sons in 1910 as an advertising manager, before becoming an editor. At that time, Scribner's was known for publishing older authors such as
John Galsworthy,
Henry James, and
Edith Wharton. However, Perkins wished to publish younger writers. Unlike most editors, he actively sought out promising new authors; he made his first big find in 1919 when he signed
F. Scott Fitzgerald. Initially, no one at Scribner's except Perkins had liked
The Romantic Egotist, the working title of Fitzgerald's first novel, and it was rejected. Even so, Perkins worked with Fitzgerald to revise the manuscript until it was accepted by the publishing house. Its publication as
This Side of Paradise (1920) marked the arrival of a new literary generation that would always be associated with Perkins. Fitzgerald's profligacy and
alcoholism strained his relationship with Perkins. Nonetheless, Perkins remained Fitzgerald's friend to the end of Fitzgerald's short life, in addition to his editorial relationship with the author, particularly evidenced in
The Great Gatsby (1925), which benefited substantially from Perkins' criticism. It was through Fitzgerald that Perkins met
Ernest Hemingway, publishing his first major novel,
The Sun Also Rises, in 1926. Perkins fought for it over objections to Hemingway's profanity raised by traditionalists in the firm. The commercial success of Hemingway's next novel,
A Farewell to Arms (1929), which topped the best-seller list, silenced colleagues' questions about Perkins' editorial judgment. The greatest professional challenge Perkins faced was posed by
Thomas Wolfe's lack of artistic self-discipline. Wolfe wrote voluminously and was greatly attached to each sentence he wrote. After a tremendous struggle, Perkins induced Wolfe to cut 90,000 words from his first novel,
Look Homeward, Angel (1929). His next,
Of Time and the River (1935), was the result of a two-year battle during which Wolfe kept writing more and more pages in the face of an ultimately victorious effort by Perkins to hold the line on size. Perkins' final discovery was
Marguerite Young, who started her mammoth
Miss MacIntosh, My Darling in 1947 with his encouragement, signing a contract in 1947 based on her 40-page manuscript. The novel was finally published in 1965. Perkins was noted for his courtesy and thoughtfulness. He also recognized skilled writing wherever he found it and encouraged writers as few editors did. That
Ring Lardner has a reputation today, for example, is because Perkins saw him as more than a syndicated humorist. Perkins believed in Lardner more than the writer did, and despite the failure of several earlier collections he coaxed Lardner into letting him assemble another under the title
How To Write Short Stories (1924). The book sold well and, thanks to excellent reviews, established Lardner as a literary figure. Apart from his roles as coach, friend, and promoter, Perkins was unusual among editors for the close and detailed attention he gave to books, and for what the novelist
Vance Bourjaily, another of his discoveries, called his "infallible sense of structure." Although he never pretended to be an artist himself, Perkins could often see where an author ought to go more clearly than the writer did. By combining these different editorial activities into his work, Perkins might be considered to be the first
authors' editor. Scholar
Matthew Bruccoli described Perkins as the most widely known
literary editor of American literature. ==Personal life==