Penguin became less of a publisher for all different kinds of people and increasingly became the paperback publisher for the best-educated people, those people who shopped at bookstores. That proved perhaps not only to be rather elitist, but it also proved not to be good business.
When it comes to translation quality, it's not a question of accuracy but of nuance, especially in fiction. The prose has to read fluidly in fiction, and this is a completely different issue from literal accuracy.
It is always a gamble to agree to publish something one has not yet read oneself.
I'm happy as a book publisher. I loved my 19 years being a C.E.O. I loved it to distraction, but I couldn't do it till I'm 80.
Worthwhile books trouble our complacency, sharpening our minds and senses. Some are dangerous, and they, too, must be published.
I think the past need not be the dead past. If we get it right, with new books, the past can be a beacon for the future.
If you're a serious publisher, you publish books because they work. In other words, they are written well; the reader identifies with the characters. The context seems to be real whether he's writing about the French Revolution or the failure of Lehman Brothers.
