Agreed. My takeaway of the first passage was quite different than what the author had indented to express. The editor wasn't censoring the author, she was mak

Agreed. My takeaway of the first passage was quite different than what the author had indented to express. The editor wasn't censoring the author, she was making cultural translations. The author's obsession with the balcony passage is hilarious, and it gives me a good insight into his general attitude. It's as though he feels that his prowess is being questioned and that he needs to be defensive and attack an entire culture. I mean, in response to a minor edit, he literally called up a "friend" out of the blue to ask her details about sex they had a decade back. That's Grade A insecurity. It's likely this insecurity is seeped thoughout his writing. And his editor is doing her best to legitimately improve his story telling.