As I mentioned in blog post #38, Pulitzer Prize winning author, John Kennedy Toole (1937-1969), committed suicide at the age of thirty-one. Publishers rejected his novels during his life time.
Toole’s rejection—given by Simon & Schuster’s senior editor, Robert Gottlieb, went like this:
“…with all its wonderfulnesses, the book—even better plotted (and still better plotable)—does not have a reason; it’s a brilliant exercise in invention, but unlike CATCH [22] and MOTHER KISSES and V and the others, it isn’t really about anything. And that’s something no one can do anything about.”

His mother, Thelma Toole, grieved for two years after his suicide and then busied herself finding a publisher. Over a period of five years, she sent it to seven publishers, all rejected the manuscript. Then in 1978, nine years after her son’s death, she pursued author Walker Percy until he surrendered to her numerous phone calls, letters, and final plea—she pushed her way into his office and demanded he read the manuscript. He expected it to be bad. Instead, he commented:
In this case I read on. And on. First with the sinking feeling that it was not bad enough to quit, then with a prickle of interest, then a growing excitement, and finally an incredulity; surely it was not possible that it was so good.
(The book cover art copyright is believed to belong to the publisher, Louisiana State University Press, or the cover artist. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Confederacy_of_Dunces)
The Power Of One
Today’s Golden Oreo
“If the story is not about the hearer he will not listen.
Think This Is Wrong?
- Twilight by Stephanie Myers: The appeal—Teenagers looking for love in all the wrong places including Vampires and Werewolves. What teen doesn’t look for love? And the more forbidden, the more appealing.
- Fifty Shades by EL James: The appeal—Women’s unrealized sexual fantasies, or sexual fantasies they never even imagined, played out on the pages of a book all safe and private.
- Divergent by Veronica Roth: The appeal—Being different, not fitting into an accepted norm.
- Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins: The all time appeal—Fighting against injustice.
This may not be everyone, but it is many.
Alone
“In utter loneliness a writer tries to explain the inexplainable.
“In utter loneliness a writer tries to explain the inexplainable.
The Science Fiction Reality blog is a little science, a little fiction, a little about writing, and a lot of real.
Clara Bush
Latest posts by Clara Bush (see all)
- Hell Town RV Park, Episode 51: A Free Web Serial. - December 7, 2019
- Hell Town RV Park, Episode 50. A Free Web Serial. - November 21, 2019
- Hell Town RV Park, Episode 49. A Free Web Serial. - November 3, 2019
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