“March 1st—To the Opera and there saw Romeo and Juliet, the first time it was ever acted; but it is a play of itself the worst that ever I heard in my life, and the worst acted that ever I saw these people do….”
Samuel Pepys, Diary
Excerpted from: Barnard, Andre, and Bill Henderson, eds. Pushcart’s Complete Rotten Reviews and Rejections. Wainscott, NY: Pushcart Press, 1998.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference
“Satire is moral outrage transformed into comic art.”
Excerpted from: Winokur, Jon, ed. The Portable Curmudgeon. New York: Plume, 1992.
We Think the World of You by J.R. Ackerley
“not nearly dirty enough, and far too English.”
Excerpted from: Barnard, Andre, and Bill Henderson, eds. Pushcart’s Complete Rotten Reviews and Rejections. Wainscott, NY: Pushcart Press, 1998.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference
Tagged fiction/literature, literary oddities
“…publication of The Ginger Man would not be a practical proposition in this country. So much of the text would have to be excised that it would almost destroy the story, and even a certain amount of rewriting would not overcome the problem…. I do not think you will find another publisher who would be willing to undertake the publication under present circumstances.”
Excerpted from: Barnard, Andre, and Bill Henderson, eds. Pushcart’s Complete Rotten Reviews and Rejections. Wainscott, NY: Pushcart Press, 1998.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference
Tagged fiction/literature, literary oddities
I: The Kandy-Kolored, Tangerine-Flake, Streamlined Baby
“One wants to say to Mr. Wolfe; you’re so clever, you can write so well, tell us something interesting.”
Saturday Review
II: The Painted Word
“There is plenty of hot air in this particular balloon, but I don’t see it going anywhere.”
John Russell, New York Times Book Review
Excerpted from: Barnard, Andre, and Bill Henderson, eds. Pushcart’s Complete Rotten Reviews and Rejections. Wainscott, NY: Pushcart Press, 1998.
“Congress—these, for the most part, illiterate hacks whose fancy vests are spotted with gravy, and whose speeches , hypocritical, unctuous, and slovenly, are spotted also with the gravy of political patronage.”
Excerpted from: Winokur, Jon, ed. The Portable Curmudgeon. New York: Plume, 1992.
(The genius of publishing executives is on full display here, mainly owing to the fact that Pearl S. Buck’s novel The Good Earth would go on to win the Pulitzer Prize. Furthermore, the Nobel Committee saw fit to award Ms. Buck its prize for literature in 1938, six years after The Good Earth was published.)
“Regret the American public is not interested in anything on China.”
Excerpted from: Barnard, Andre, and Bill Henderson, eds. Pushcart’s Complete Rotten Reviews and Rejections. Wainscott, NY: Pushcart Press, 1998.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference
Tagged fiction/literature, literary oddities
“A knowledge of its contents will be essential to conversational poise in contemporary literature during the next three months—perhaps.”
Boston Evening Transcript
Excerpted from: Barnard, Andre, and Bill Henderson, eds. Pushcart’s Complete Rotten Reviews and Rejections. Wainscott, NY: Pushcart Press, 1998.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference
Tagged fiction/literature, literary oddities
“It seems to have been written by a creature of nature wholly different from our own, indifferent to our lot, rejoicing in our sufferings, and laughing like a demon or an ape at the misery of the human race with which he has nothing in common.”
Mme de Stael, DeL’Allemagne
Excerpted from: Barnard, Andre, and Bill Henderson, eds. Pushcart’s Complete Rotten Reviews and Rejections. Wainscott, NY: Pushcart Press, 1998.
Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference
Tagged fiction/literature, literary oddities
“If you can’t annoy somebody, there’s little point in writing.”
Excerpted from: Winokur, Jon, ed. The Portable Curmudgeon. New York: Plume, 1992.
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