Who was the editor of F. Scott Fitzgerald who worked on The Great Gatsby?

Maxwell Perkins was the editor of F. Scott Fitzgerald who worked on The Great Gatsby.

Perkins was a senior editor at Charles Scribner’s Sons and became one of the most influential literary editors of the twentieth century. He also edited major writers including Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe, and James Jones.

Fitzgerald submitted a draft of Gatsby to Perkins after working on the novel in Europe. Perkins encouraged revisions during the winter before publication, helping Fitzgerald shape the manuscript into the tightly structured novel readers know today. Their correspondence shows Fitzgerald wrestling with the book’s title, structure, tone, and commercial prospects.

Perkins is sometimes confused with Charles Scribner, whose name identified the publishing house, or with Fitzgerald’s fellow writers such as Hemingway. Those figures were connected to Fitzgerald’s literary world, but Perkins was the editor responsible for guiding the manuscript through Scribner’s publication process. He also championed Francis Cugat’s striking dust-jacket design.