Tag Archives: fiction/literature

Rotten Rejections: The Clan of the Cave Bear

Posted on August 11, 2020 | Leave a comment

“We are very impressed with the depth and scope of your research and the quality of your prose. Nevertheless, the length presents a unique problem, for production costs are rising and the reading public are reluctant to buy expensive novels unless the author has an established reputation such as the one enjoyed by James Michener. In any case, we don’t thing we could distribute enough copies to satisfy you or ourselves.”

Excerpted from: Barnard, Andre, and Bill Henderson, eds. Pushcart’s Complete Rotten Reviews and Rejections. Wainscott, NY: Pushcart Press, 1998.

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Book of Answers: James Fenimore Cooper

Posted on August 10, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Who is the title character in James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans (1826)? Uncas, the son of Chingachgook. He is killed defending Cora, his love, against Magua.”

Excerpted from: Corey, Melinda, and George Ochoa. Literature: The New York Public Library Book of Answers. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993.

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Rotten Reviews: The Handmaid’s Tale

Posted on August 4, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Norman Mailer, wheezing lewd approval of some graphic images he encountered in the writing of Germaine Greer, remarked that ‘a wind in this prose whistled up the kilt of male conceit.’ Reading Margaret Atwood, I don my kilt but the wind never comes. Just a cold breeze.”

The American Spectator

Excerpted from: Barnard, Andre, and Bill Henderson, eds. Pushcart’s Complete Rotten Reviews and Rejections. Wainscott, NY: Pushcart Press, 1998.   

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Rotten Reviews: A Walk on the Wild Side by Nelson Algren

Posted on July 29, 2020 | Leave a comment

“…my, how this boy needs editing!”

San Francisco Chronicle

Excerpted from: Barnard, Andre, and Bill Henderson, eds. Pushcart’s Complete Rotten Reviews and Rejections. Wainscott, NY: Pushcart Press, 1998.   

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Term of Art: Oral Tradition

Posted on July 26, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Oral Tradition: Poetry belonging to this tradition is composed orally, or made up as the poet goes along. As a rule, it is the product of illiterate or semi-literate societies. It is usually sung or chanted (often to musical accompaniment) and is the earliest of all poetry, in the sense that it precedes written poetry. It is still alive in many parts of the world, and in some regions of Europe: for instance, Sicily, the remoter parts of Greece, and in the central Balkans (especially Bosnia, Serbia and Macedonia). In the upland districts of Yugoslavia it is still possible to find a guslar (q.v.) reciting verses on recent events. See also BALLAD; BYLINA; EPIC; FOLKSONG; NARODNE PESME”

Excerpted from: Cuddon, J.A. The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. New York: Penguin, 1992.

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Aegis

Posted on July 26, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Aegis: (fr Gr, aix, ‘goat’) Variously interpreted as a shield made of goatskin or as the awesome thundercloud of Zeus. Homer depicts the aegis as an impregnable shield made by the god Hephaestus. On occasion Zeus lent the aegis to other gods; particularly Athene and Apollo. The aegis symbolized the gods’ special powers. Hence the term has come denote authority and protection.”

Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.

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Rival Brothers

Posted on July 25, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Cain and Abel * Jacob and Esau * Isaac and Ishmael * Romulus and Remus

The story of Cain and Abel, the two sons of Adam and Eve, warns us of the jealousies that exist between brothers. Abel was the first shepherd, Cain the first tiller of the soil. But the murderous envy of Cain was inflamed when he saw that his brother’s offering to God was deemed more acceptable as a sacrifice, so he killed Abel. Jacob and Esau did not murder each other, though Jacob tricked his firstborn brother of his birthright by selling him ‘a mess of pottage’ when he was hungry. The story of Ishmael and Isaac has its own tone, for the brothers were friends, but the elder would be driven from out of the tent of his father, Abraham, by his stepmother. Remus would be murdered by his brother Romulus during the foundation ceremony for the city of Rome.”

Excerpted from: Rogerson, Barnaby. Rogerson’s Book of Numbers: The Culture of Numbers–from 1,001 Nights to the Seven Wonders of the World. New York: Picador, 2013.

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Book of Answers: Primo Levi

Posted on July 25, 2020 | Leave a comment

“How old was Primo Levi (1919-1987) when he was sent to Auschwitz? Twenty-four. The Italian Jewish writer tells the story of his captivity in Auschwitz from 1944 to 1945 in Sequesto e un uomo (tr. If This Is a Man, 1947). In the United States, the book is entitled Survival in Auschwitz (1958).”

Excerpted from: Corey, Melinda, and George Ochoa. Literature: The New York Public Library Book of Answers. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993.

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The Magic Flute

Posted on July 25, 2020 | Leave a comment

“The Magic Flute (German title: Die Zauberflote). An opera by Mozart (1756-91), with a libretto by Emanuel Shikaneder, first performed in 1791. In this mystical (and quasi-masonic) quest opera, the magic flute is bestowed on Tamino to protect him as he goes through various rites of passage, such as ordeal by fire and water. The story is based on one found in Christoph Wieland’s collection of oriental folk tales (1786).

‘The opera [The Magic Flute]…is the only one in existence that might conceivably have been composed by God.’”

Neville Cardus: in the Manchester Guardian, 1961

Excerpted from: Crofton, Ian, ed. Brewer’s Curious Titles. London: Cassell, 2002.

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Rotten Rejections: The Man Everybody Was Afraid Of by Joseph Hansen

Posted on July 17, 2020 | Leave a comment

[This sentence from a publisher dismisses one of Joseph Hansen’s Dave Brandstetter books, which is a series of hard-boiled detective novels that feature a gay protagonist, i.e. Dave Brandstetter. I am an inveterate reader of mysteries, but have only read one Mr. Hansen’s books; it was quite good.]

“This was put together with chewing gum and a paper clip.”

Excerpted from: Barnard, Andre, and Bill Henderson, eds. Pushcart’s Complete Rotten Reviews and Rejections. Wainscott, NY: Pushcart Press, 1998.

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