A bunch of blogs I like recently quoted a business blog that named rock-star authors who have received stoopid rejections. I was irked that said business blog did not attribute the source of the quotations, so I’m not gonna link to it. I think the source was a book called Rotten Reviews and Rejections, but I’m not positive. So buy that book, just to be sure! Still, here for your delectation are a few of the disses in question, should you need reassurance that the publishing business is fucktardacious:

The Diary of Anne Frank

“The girl doesn’t, it seems to me, have a special perception or feeling which would lift that book above the ‘curiosity’ level.”

Isaac Bashevis Singer

“It’s Poland and the rich Jews again.”

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos

“Do you realize, young woman, that you’re the first American writer ever to poke fun at sex?”

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

“I haven’t really the foggiest idea about what the man is trying to say… Apparently the author intends it to be funny – possibly even satire – but it is really not funny on any intellectual level … From your long publishing experience you will know that it is less disastrous to turn down a work of genius than to turn down talented mediocrities.”

Animal Farm by George Orwell

“It is impossible to sell animal stories in the USA.”

Lady Windermere’s Fan by Oscar Wilde

“My dear sir,

I have read your manuscript.  Oh, my dear sir.”

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

“…overwhelmingly nauseating, even to an enlightened Freudian … I recommend that it be buried under a stone for a thousand years.”

Tony Hillerman

“Get rid of all that Indian stuff.”