Once upon a time, about 10 years ago, I went to a local conference that took place in Durham, and ended up in one of the coolest classes/events I've attended, although my appreciation has been amplified in retrospect.
Will Blythe, then still at Esquire, was there to speak about the short story and publication. What he did was only bring tons of copies of first pages of 15-20 submitted stories from Esquire's files, each with the author's info and, usually, the title blacked out. We would briefly read over them and then discuss, over the feedback of hearing aids, whether we would read on or move on. As you can imagine, in the span of an hour or so, people got rather impatient and picky. I think that was the point - a little role-playing exercise and I think it was kinda brilliant. Maybe not brilliant so much as memorable - I think a number of editors would do something similar, they just didn't have the same kind of stories available.
This was early on for me, but I recognized "Strays" and "The Birds for Christmas" by Mark Richard (there were 3 or 4 total) and maybe "Car Crash While Hitchiking." I believe the crowd was mixed in opinion most of the time, although now I'm pretty surprised how many stories weren't recognized by at least *someone*. DFW's "My Appearance" got trashed, I believe. Saul Bellow's "Something to Remember Me By" also, mostly done in by the original title "A Turntable, A Vortex."
There were also the usual examples of deer hunts and ghosts appearing on red-eye flights and Sgt Fury-type "barking."
WB also had many stories on which of these gems he'd passed on and which ones he lost to another publication. I'm afraid I wasn't taking notes - blogs weren't around then.
But I remember one exchange:
Attendee: "I'd pass on this."
WB: "Why?"
Attendee:" It reads like a bad Hemingway rip-off."
WB: "That's very interesting. It actually *is* Hemingway."
It was a rare unpublished story submitted to them. I believe they passed.
So WB's one of my heroes. I've seen him sometimes at my coffee place or around other spots in Chapel Hill. I have a first of David Leavitt's Arkansas at home, one that says "The Term Paper Artist" had originally appeared in Esquire. I could get my copy of Why I Write signed, but I don't know if I have the balls to hand Arkansas to one of my early literary heroes and ask him to sign it. I don't know if he'd find it very amusing or very not.
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