Thomas Michael Maschler(16 August 1933 – 15 October 2020)[1][2][3]was a British publisher and writer. From 1960, he was influential as the head of publishing companyJonathan Capeover a period of more than three decades. Maschler was noted for instituting theBooker Prizefor British, Irish and Commonwealth literature in 1969. He was involved in publishing the works of many notable authors, includingErnest Hemingway,Joseph Heller,Gabriel García Márquez,John Lennon,Ian McEwan,Bruce ChatwinandSalman Rushdie.
Tom Maschler | |
|---|---|
| Born | Thomas Michael Maschler 16 August 1933 Berlin,Germany |
| Died | 15 October 2020 (age 87) France |
| Education | Leighton Park School |
| Occupation | Book publisher |
| Known for | Booker Prizefounder |
| Notable work | Publisher (2005) |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 3 |
Early life
editMaschler was born inBerlin,Germany, toAustrian Jewishparents, Rita (Masseron) and Kurt Leo Maschler on 16 August 1933.[4]His father was a publisher's representative. Maschler was five years old when his family fled to the UK fromViennaafter the Nazi annexation (Anschluss) of Austria.[5]After his parents' separation, he moved toHenley-on-Thames,where his mother took on a housekeeping job.[2]
After studying atLeighton Park School,he went toRoscoff,France, where he earned a scholarship to spend the summer in an Israelikibbutz.It is mentioned that he had written a letter to Israeli Prime MinisterDavid Ben-Gurion,who intervened to arrange a passage for Maschler fromMarseilletoHaifa.[2]Maschler went on to spend the next three years travelling across the US, working in a tuna cannery, and assorted construction jobs, while writing for theLos Angeles TimesandThe New York Times.[2]He returned home and worked as a tour guide, and did national service as a part of the Russian Corps of theRoyal Air Force.[2][6]
Career
editMaschler started his publishing career in 1955, as a production assistant atAndré Deutsch,followed by a stint atMacGibbon & Keebetween 1956 and 1958. It was here that he published his first anthology of essays,Declaration,in 1957. The collection had essays from leading writers of the time.[2]Earning a reprimand for some of his promotional interviews, he subsequently went on to joinAllen Lane's Penguin Booksas an assistant fiction editor.[2]
He went on to headJonathan Cape,after the death of its founder. One of Maschler's first assignments at Cape was to work withMary Hemingwayon papers that her husbandErnest Hemingwayhad left behind. These would be published asA Moveable Feast(1964).[2]
As head of Jonathan Cape, Maschler was heavily involved in the creation of theChatto,Virago,Bodley Headand Cape Group (CVBC), which later dissolved.[5]He discovered and published many writers, includingGabriel García Márquez,Ian McEwanandBruce Chatwin.[5]One of Maschler's earliest coups was purchasingJoseph Heller'sCatch-22for £250.[5]Maschler published two books,In His Own Write(1964) andA Spaniard in the Works(1965), based onJohn Lennon's doodles.[2]He also publishedSalman Rushdie'sMidnight's Children(1981).[2]
Maschler was one of the key figures responsible for creating theBooker Prizein 1969. The award was envisioned as a British Commonwealth version of the FrenchPrix Goncourt.[5]Having seen the success of the French award, and the related sales uplift, Mascher approachedJock CampbellandCharles Tyrrellfrom the sugar trading firmBooker–McConnellto set up an equivalent for British books.[7][8]P. H. Newbywas the first winner of the prize forSomething to Answer For,in 1969.[9]The prize was sponsored by the Booker–McConnell group from 1969 to 2001, theMan Groupfrom 2002 to 2019, and subsequently by the charitable foundationCrankstart.[10][11][12]
In 1991, he stepped down from his position as the chairman of Jonathan Cape, when the company was sold toSi Newhouse'sRandom House Publishing.The company had been losing money for a few years prior, necessitating the deal. He was diagnosed withmanic depressionshortly after the deal went through.[6]
His autobiography,Publisher,was published byPicadorin 2005.[13]
Criticism
editMaschler was sometimes criticised for his forceful approach to publishing, with a charge that while he was good at identifying commercial best sellers, he had "little interest in books for their own sake".[6]He was considered a galvanising force and criticised for being inhospitable to some of his authors.[2]
He is noted to have played a key role in the career downturn of novelistBarbara Pym.In 1963, after joining Cape, Maschler rejected Pym's seventh novel,An Unsuitable Attachment,on the advice of two readers at the firm. Cape had published all of Pym's previous novels (although before Maschler had joined), and she expressed a belief that she was being unfairly treated, but was told that her novels were no longer attractive to readers.[14]It would be 14 years until Pym had another novel published. The novelist never fully forgave Maschler. When she was rediscovered in 1977, she refused to let Cape publish her new novels.[15]Pym and her sister Hilary invented a weak-tasting dessert, a combination oflimejellyand milk, and called it "Maschler pudding". After Pym's death, Maschler appeared in the 1992 television filmMiss Pym's Day Outrecounting his decision to reject the novel (which was posthumously published in 1982).[16]
Personal life
editIn 1970, Maschler married his first wifeFay Coventry,who went on to be a restaurant critic for theEvening Standard,and they had three children. The couple divorced in 1987, and he married his second wife, Regina Kulinicz, in 1988.[2][6]He lived and travelled between his houses in London, France and Mexico.[2]
Maschler died at the age of 87 on 15 October 2020, in a hospital near his home inLuberon,south-eastern France.[2][17]
References
edit- ^"Weekend birthdays".The Guardian.Guardian News and Media. 16 August 2014. p. 49.
- ^abcdefghijklmnThomson, Liz (16 October 2020)."Tom Maschler obituary".The Guardian.ISSN0261-3077.Retrieved17 October2020.
- ^https:// oxforddnb /display/10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-90000381673
- ^Rita Kurt MaschlerinThe International Who's Who: 1992–93,Europa Publications, 1992, p. 1073.
- ^abcdeWroe, Nicholas(12 March 2005)."Talent spotter".The Guardian.
- ^abcd"Tom Maschler, buccaneering publisher who revived Cape and secured a string of top authors – obituary".The Daily Telegraph.16 October 2020.ISSN0307-1235.Retrieved17 October2020.
- ^Coldstream, John (31 August 2008)."The Booker Prize for friction".The Telegraph.
- ^Linn, Margaret (14 October 2017)."A Point of View: The Man Booker Prize".Dundee University Review of the Arts (DURA).Retrieved27 April2024.
- ^Mangan, Lucy(15 October 2018)."Barneys, Books and Bust Ups: 50 Years of the Booker Prize review – a hilarious jaunt".The Guardian.ISSN0261-3077.Retrieved17 October2020.
- ^Sutherland, John (9 October 2008)."The Booker's Big Bang".New Statesman.Retrieved3 September2009.
- ^Davies, Caroline (27 January 2019)."Booker prize trustees search for new sponsor after Man Group exit".The Guardian.Retrieved27 January2019.
- ^Flood, Alison (28 February 2019)."Booker Prize: Silicon Valley Billionaire Takes Over as New Sponsor".The Guardian.Retrieved28 February2019.
- ^Walsh, John (16 March 2005)."Tom Maschler: Publish and be acclaimed".The Independent.
- ^Holt, Hazel (1990).A Lot to Ask: A Life of Barbara Pym.London: Macmillan. pp. 192–197.ISBN0525249370.
- ^Pym, Barbara,Finding a Voice,talk given 4 April 1978 onBBC Radio 3,archived at The Barbara Pym Society website. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
- ^"Miss Pym's Day Out".Bookmark.Season 9. Episode 8. 19 February 1992. 35 minutes in.BBC.Archivedfrom the original on 12 December 2021.Retrieved26 April2020.
- ^Roberts, Sam(23 October 2020)."Tom Maschler, Bold British Publisher and Booker Prize Founder, Dies at 87".The New York Times.
External links
edit- Nicholas Wroe,"Talent spotter",Guardianprofile, 12 March 2005.
- Yoko Hani,"Tom Maschler: A storied life of luck and literary passions",The Japan Times,6 April 2008.
- Portraits of Tom Maschlerat theNational Portrait Gallery, London