Pascal Covici
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Pascal Avram "Pat" Covici (November 4, 1885–October 14, 1964) was a Romanian Jewish-American book publisher and editor, best known for his close associations with authors such as John Steinbeck, Saul Bellow, and many more noted American literary figures, mainly through his position at Viking Press.
Pascal Avram "Pat" Covici (November 4, 1885–October 14, 1964) was a Romanian Jewish-American book publisher and editor, best known for his close associations with authors such as John Steinbeck, Saul Bellow, and many more noted American literary figures, mainly through his position at Viking Press.
New firm and controversy
When McGee left the company due to health issues in 1924, Covici continued to publish under Pascal Covici, Inc. Several years later, he began a firm with Donald Friede in New York City. The play The Front Page by Hecht and Charles MacArthur and the novel The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall garnered the company quick success. The Well of Loneliness was seized from Covici-Friede's offices after Friede sold a copy to John Saxton Sumner of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice but the New York Court of Special Sessions cleared the book of charges of obscenity. In addition to writers like Gene Fowler, Wyndham Lewis, Clifford Odets, and Nathanael West, their key author was John Steinbeck, whom they signed in 1934. They published Tortilla Flat in 19351 and other new and reprinted Steinbeck works. Covici-Friede failed in 1938; in 1943, Crown Publishing purchased the firm's assets.
Death and legacy
Covici died on October 14, 1964. His relationship with John Steinbeck is portrayed in the book Steinbeck and Covici: The Story of a Friendship, edited by Thomas Fensch.
References
Ronald S. Marmarelli. "Covici, Pascal Avram"; American National Biography Online Feb. 2000.
External links
Pascal Covici Collection at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin
Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1365863386 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.
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