the poetrysheet
whimsy, subversion, bowling
Number 491, April 23,
2004
Virgil (Publius
Vergilius Maro, 70 B.C.-19 B.C.)
“Christians should be taught that he who gives to a poor
man, or lends to a needy man, does better than if he bought pardons.”
—Martin
Luther (1483-1546), #43, The Ninety-Five Theses
On the New Yorker: A letter to John Warner, columnist for The Morning News (http://www.themorningnews.org/)
About a month ago, I read Warner’s year-old
“Among the ‘Unsavvy’” on the New Yorker’s change of fiction editor. Hopes
were that the departure of Bill Buford and the entrance of Deborah Treisman
would open the magazine again to new writers. Alas, it was not to be the case.
Warner proposed to take all the New Yorker unsolicited
submissions for one month, about 5,000 submissions, and find one publishable
work—create a contest of the New Yorker’s slushpile. (Read Warner’s column
at: http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/opinions/among_the_unsavvy.php#002689)
Here is our correspondence:
Mr. Warner,
I just read your editorial on the Morning News, Jan. 29, 2003, finding it, of course,
while attempting to unearth whom the fiction editor of the New Yorker is.
I'm glad I came across your piece. I've read the NYer time and again, and find it sometimes
interesting, sometimes maddeningly elitist. Most recently, I've been reading
the fiction closely, and like many other artists over the ages, I said to
myself, "Gee, I can do that."
(I've noticed, however, recent NYer fiction tends toward having a clever
trick over real writing power. And tricks, no matter how clever, are often
cheap.)
I submitted a story to the NYer slushpile that would be better in its
pages. I did it, of course, with the fatalism of an experienced writer and the
same enthusiasm I buy a single lottery ticket when the jackpot gets to $27 million
or multiples thereof. (I asked God, in a moment of desperation once when I was
young, for $27 million. I figure I better pick up my end.)
Your article confirmed to me that the admonition (by implication)
not to submit the story elsewhere while the magazine considers it is both
arrogant on their part and stupid, should I comply, on mine.
So, did you receive any response either from the NYer or Ms. Treisman on your proposed
contest. Having worked for a long time in magazine and book publishing and understanding
something of the mindset of that world, I can't imagine you did.
Even so, you have gained a regular reader. I've read several of
your columns from the archives. I will keep coming back.
Yours,
Patrick Dobson
journalist, freelance editor and writer
Kansas City, MO
-------
on 3/31/04 7:40 PM, John Warner wrote:
Patrick:
Nice of you to get in touch. Indeed, to hold one’s breath waiting
for a response from the New Yorker is to risk a suffocating death. In truth, they publish nothing
that doesn’t come through some kind of network or connection. It’s simply a
reality of how they work.
After the article, Treisman made some public comments claiming
that they really do read the slushpile, which led me to believe that she’d seen
the piece and regretted some of her flippancy, but I haven’t heard from her
directly. No word on them wanting to do the contest yet, but there is a version
of it going on in the UK called Lit Idol that’s sponsored by one of the papers
over there.
Fortunately the New Yorker is less and less powerful in terms of making careers in
writing. It used to be the best path to success, but is hardly relevant for
most of us.
Very pleased that you enjoyed the piece and I wish you luck in your writing endeavors.
John Warner
-----
Warner had quoted Treisman from an interview
in a Book
Magazine Q&A, which I excert here (read the whole interview at: http://www.bookmagazine.com/issue26/treisman.shtml):
Q: Have you ever rescued anything notable from the slush pile?
A: Someone who's submitting themselves directly to the fiction editor probably isn't all that savvy about publishing and probably not about writing either. Though I'm sure there are exceptions to that. Particularly in poetry. A lot of poetry comes from the slush pile, because poets don't have agents.
But also add another intriguing quote two
paragraphs down from the above:
Q: Where do you look for new writers? You must spend a lot of time
looking through smaller literary journals.
A: Most often if it's not from an agent, then it's coming from
someone in the writing world who happens to have stumbled across a person of
talent. I've tried going down to the sidewalk and just yelling for writers,
but...
-----
Imagine that! Maybe writers Treisman would
find “yelling” down the canyons of New York would be more savvy than a
hard-working Rube like me?
landscaping
the new yard
gravel and rock
bare ground muddied
in recent rain
lays fertile in the mind
for dogwood, pink and white,
a pair of redbuds
either side of the drive,
a couple of brooding lilacs
up next to the house
out back, on the hill,
where the water has run
into the basement already
the mind has placed two apples,
a peach, and a fish pond
all this gardening, digging, hoeing,
mulching around roots,
smacking dust and soil
from knees of jeans
and crimps of skin
presupposes the pinoak,
now a sapling,
draping a hand over it all
a hand that only an old man
might remember he wanted to see
as he sits on a porch swing
under a broken gutter
before a house long in need of paint
in the shade of that tree
send
short poems, short thoughts, fictions, or nonfictions to the poetrysheet, where whimsy, subversion, and watching minnows make
their way upstream are our highest values
submit/identity/www.patrickdobson.com/red hot
links
all
material copyright poetrysheet and
personally recommended press, unless otherwise arranged with the authors. for
information, contact rev. patrick dobson,
1132 e. 65th st., kansas city, mo, 64131, 816-333-7303.
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