List No. 066

REJECTING WITTGENSTEIN’S MISTRESS

David Markson

Date Unknown

Wittgenstein’s Mistress by David Markson is not your average novel. Written largely in single sentence paragraphs, it tells the story of a lady who is convinced that she is alone is this world – that no other human beings exist. When published in 1988, it received strong reviews and is now considered to be his masterpiece; in 1999, fellow novelist David Foster Wallace called it “pretty much the high point of experimental fiction in this country”. Despite the praise garnered after publication, it wasn’t all plain sailing. The list you see here, handwritten by the book’s exasperated author, details each of the rejections he received before Wittgenstein’s Mistress eventually found a home at Dalkey Archive Press. They total 54.

1 – Asher – Harper & Row – No

2 – Cannon – Dutton? – No

3 – Talese – HM Co – No –

4 – Silberman – Summit – Brilliant / Classy – No

5 – Strachan – FSG – Too Brilliant / not know who – No

6 – Sifton – Viking – Admin, not love – rhythm – No

7 – Knopf – Lish want – cannot get through – No (Lee Goerner said no)

8 – Entrekin – S&S – nice letter – No

9 – Phillips – Little Brown – not “love” enough – No

10 – Sale – Putnam – not sort of voice can get into – No

11 – Landis – Morrow – No –

12 – Ann Patty – Poseidon – No

13 – Tom Engelhart – Pantheon – No

14 – Freedgood – Random – Admire writing – not love – No

15 – Stewart – Atheneum – Doesn’t thicken – No

16 – Peter Davison – Atlantic Monthly Press – Brilliant – Hummed – No

17 – Tom Wallace – Norton – No

18 – Barbara Grossman – Crown – Brilliant – 25yrs ahead of its time – No

19 – Godine – No

20 – Catherine Court – Penguin – Didn’t understand – No

21 – Lish – Knopf – asked for it back – No

22 – Fred Jordan – Grove – No

23 – Irene Skolnick – HBJ – she love – cldn’t get 2nd reader – No

24 – Karen Brazillar – Persea – Brilliant – Can’t do – No

25 – Bob Wyatt – Ballantine – No

26 Shoemaker – North Point – Brilliant creative No

27 – Roger Angell – NY’er – No concessions – Hard to stay with – No

28 – Pantheon – 2nd Ed (via Lish) – Brilliant – No

29 – Fran McCullough – Dial – No

30 – St. Martins – Brilliant – Beattie 100% Right – No

31 – Delacorte – No

32 – Braziller – No

33 – Sam Vaughan – Doubleday – No

34 – Vanguard – No

35 – Donald I. Fine – No

36 – Congdon – Congdon & Weed – No

37 – Cork Smith – Ticknor & Fields – No

38 – Fisketjon – Random House – No

39 – Raebuth – Horizon 5/7/84 – spoke 3/85 – personal problems – can’t do but wld – maybe later

40 – Carrol – Carroll & Geoff – No

41 – Lish – Knopf – Had asked – No

42 – Scribner’s – No

43 – Pushcart Press – No

44 – McPherson & Co – No

45 – Putnam – 2nd Ed. Stacy Kramer – No

46 – New Directions – Abish & Laughlin – rejection slip – No – told Walter never read it

47 – Juri Jurevis – SoHo Press – No

48 – Overlook – No

49 – Weidenfield & Nicholson – No

50 Sun & moon – No

51 Algonquin – No

52 Delphinium Press – Joe Papaleo – Brilliant – spectacular – No

53 William Abraham – No

54 Thunder’s Mouth – No