encouragement or schadenfreude? you decide.

Every once in a while you run across an article about the rejections great/successful writers got when they were starting out. Here’s one such list which includes names like Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway and William Golden:

Though Lord of the Flies was one of my favorite books from high school, it seems some publishers disagreed. One unimpressed agent called the classic “an absurd and uninteresting fantasy which was rubbish and dull.” To date, the book has been required reading in high schools for nearly fifty years, 14.5 million copies have been sold, and Golding’s work has been adapted for film twice.

I’ll admit that I don’t think Ann Rand should be on this list, but I’m not sure I can take any satisfaction in the other names.  It all reminds me of hazing, in reverse.