The Australian: “Inquirer submitted, under a pseudonym, chapter three of [1973 Nobel Winner Patrick] White’s The Eye of the Storm to 12 publishers and agents. This novel clinched his Nobel Prize in Literature in 1973, with the judges describing it as one of his most accomplished works. Not one reader recognised its literary genius, and 10 wrote polite and vaguely encouraging rejection letters. The highest praise was ‘clever’. A low point was a referral to a ‘how to’ book on writing fiction.”
*sigh* These “we took great manuscripts and sent them around and fooled EVERYBODY” stories are such bullshit. Which is why my favorite part of the story is:
“Hudson has since told Inquirer he recalled reading the manuscript and was being kind in his letter. ‘I was trying to be polite. I thought is was pretentious fart-arsery. I don’t like White.’
“‘Obviously, one has to ask, how the hell did this guy get to be a great literary figure? Right from the start, people were saying: “Is this really as good as people are saying?” ‘ “