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In the late eighties and nineties, editor Gordon Lish (now 92) was a household name in contemporary literary fiction: cult figure, literary guru, polarizing teacher, mentor to a generation of literary phenoms, senior editor at Knopf, the man who discovered (among others) Raymond Carver, Ben Marcus, Amy Hempel, and Barry Hannah—and, depending on whom you ask, a scoundrel.

Fired from his teaching positions at Yale and Columbia, then later as an editor at Esquire and Knopf he went on to teach a private writing workshop out of his apartment. These grueling sessions would typically last six hours a session, without breaks. Yet, the workshop was so popular, the waiting list could reach into the low 100s.

He humiliated students in front of their peers as a matter of course, and cultivated what's been described, again and again, as a cult. But the process of ritual shame and hazing sounds more like a fraternity, with women.

Lish's editorial cuts were so deep his caustic snipping shaped the minimalist style Raymond Carver became known for. It wasn’t until decades later, when the Lilly Library at Indiana University Bloomington bought Lish’s papers that Carver’s original drafts surfaced, and people saw the degree to which Raymond Carver’s original vision was influenced by Lish’s liberal Raymond-carving.

Two weeks ago, I wrote about David Foster Wallace, what surfaced about him after he died, and how to separate the art from the artist.

Lish, still living, was known for frequently sleeping with his female students, after instructing them to write in order to seduce him.

Sometimes Lish went on to acquire their work as an editor in the same stretch of time. He's confirmed at least one of these relationships himself, with the extraordinary Amy Hempel, calling it consensual and never secret. He's pushed back on the idea that it was a pattern. But multiple students and critics describe a workshop culture where erotic tension, professional gatekeeping, and power weren’t separate things.

It was a serious abuse of power over people whose careers depended on him liking them.

And then there’s my personal experience. Without yet knowing it, Lish also asked me to seduce him.

I’ll tell you that story after the jump.

While I don’t respect him as a man, I respect his talent. And so, a few years ago, when an acquaintance told me they’d taken one of his private workshops, had 25 pages of notes, and did I want them. I jumped at the chance.

Below, I’ll share some of these notes and then offer a synthesis of the most insightful and practical craft insights he offers, culled from all 25 pages.