I'm reminded of a former student who earlier had studied poetry with William Stafford. He said Stafford said that typically one of his poems would have four or five rejections before finding a home. I'm also reminded of Doris Lessing, who late in her career submitted a new manuscript to her own publisher under a pseudonym -- and was soundly rejected! "'I wanted to highlight that whole dreadful process in book publishing that 'nothing succeeds like success,' '' she said ... ''If the books had come out in my name, they would have sold a lot of copies and reviewers would have said, 'Oh, Doris Lessing, how wonderful.'"
Famous Authors' Rejection Letters Surface
Weekend Edition Sunday, September 16, 2007 · Jack Kerouac, George Orwell and Sylvia Plath are just a few of the authors whose books were turned down by the Alfred A. Knopf publishing house. Researchers going through the Knopf archives have come across their rejection letters, as well as a few others.
Liane Hansen speaks to Richard Oram at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, where the archives are held.
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