Robert Giroux; Publishing Maverick Discovered and Edited Great Writers

One of the first books he edited was critic Edmund Wilson's monumental study of 19th century collectivist thought, "To the Finland Station."

At Harcourt, Mr. Giroux developed a reputation for spotting the young and talented. Among the first novels he published were Kerouac's "The Town and the City" (1950), O'Connor's "Wise Blood" (1952) and Malamud's "The Natural" (1952). He published Hannah Arendt's first English-language work, "The Origins of Totalitarianism" (1951) and Lowell's second book of poems, the landmark "Lord Weary's Castle," which won the 1947 Pulitzer Prize.

Mr. Giroux also had a few missed chances, most notably J.D. Salinger's coming-of-age novel, "The Catcher in the Rye." He had accepted the book and passed it along to other editors, only to have the project sunk by Harcourt's textbook department, which considered it objectionable.

"I was never more outraged or humiliated in my life," he said. "It was the biggest blow of my publishing career."

Kerouac once came to Mr. Giroux's office bearing the manuscript of "On the Road," written without paragraphs on a 120-foot scroll of paper. Kerouac said that his novel had been divinely inspired and that not a word could be altered.

"Even Shakespeare, who they say didn't blot many words, blotted some, after all," Mr. Giroux said. "And Jack, you ain't Shakespeare."

An indignant Kerouac called him a "crass idiot," stormed out and published "On the Road" with Viking.

In 1955, Mr. Giroux tired of the strictures at Harcourt and joined the informal but high-minded Farrar, Straus. At least 15 writers followed him to his new publisher, giving it a reputation for quality it has maintained for more than 50 years.

The ebullient Roger Straus, who died in 2004, was the public face of the business, but the quiet Mr. Giroux -- whose name was added to the company's masthead in 1964 -- wielded the sharpest pencil and held the hands of temperamental authors.

His marriage to Carmen de Arango ended in divorce. There are no immediate survivors.

"What's publishing all about?" he said to Saturday Review magazine. "If it isn't about what you like and believe in, you might as well manufacture sausages."

Staff writer Joe Holley contributed to this report.