| This project is a feminist oral history of editorial legend Judith Jones. Jones, who was the first woman to rise from the role of junior editor to the position of senior editor and vice president at Knopf publishing house, is best known for her "discovery" of Julia Child in the late 1950s and the publication of Mastering the Art of French Cooking in 1961, but she is also responsible for nurturing the authors of, and shepherding into publication the many books that comprise, the modern American cookbook canon, as well as many literary luminaries. This project is based upon a collection of life oral history interviews with Jones conducted in 2013, and utilizes The Listening Guide method to examine how and why Jones accomplished all that she did in the arena of literary publishing generally, and culinary publishing in particular, and furthermore examines how she makes meaning of those experiences during the late stage of her life during which the interviews were conducted. The interpersonal interview processes and dynamics are examined alongside the contents of the interviews themselves.;The analysis focuses on Jones's experiences of cultivating a professional interest in food; becoming an editor; working as one of the early woman editors in a major publishing house; making public, and bringing legitimacy to, food work; and the authorial and personal relationships that shaped and defined her work. Theoretical framing and context are drawn from oral history theory, food studies, women's and feminist studies, and biography/narrative theory in order to nuance understanding of women's experiences of working in publishing in the second half of the twentieth century, and seeking insight into how involvement with food writing acted as a source of empowerment for, and created a realm of intimacy and autonomy among, Jones and her authors. |
