Levin Out: What Would Plum Say?

The rumour mill had it that Martin Levin was out as Books Editor at the Globe and Mail. The rumour mill was right. The Globe posted a Books Editor job vacancy at the Media Job Search Canada website January 30. Why the paper dumped Levin I don't know. I've never met him,  although he does pass through my neighbourhood occasionally and I've seen him at one or two literary nights here in Hogtown. Perhaps he was more book maven than gladhander. Consider the job specs: The Globe wants someone with a "robust metabolism". Code for getting out and chatting up advertisers at endless industry events? "Creative packaging instincts" and "display-writing chops" are also required. Hmmm. Sounds more like the talents advertising agencies hire.

Perhaps, if you believe David Allan Stein (DAS the  Toronto Star columnist and sometime author? That DAS?) that the Globe is being "run into the ground" by its "dim bulb" publisher - see his post at www.straight.com - then it could be Levin was just too bookish to hold the job any longer. Or, as I like to think, he was just too whimsical for a paper that continues a rightward drift into the waters of incredulity. After all, and to his everlasting credit, Levin is a huge fan of P.G. Wodehouse.