The Ways In Which This Is Horrible
I like how Virginia Quarterly Review has changed in the last few years, and perhaps that’s why I think this post is beneath them. Their blog has a list of comments their editorial readers made on rejected submissions. Here are some of their “brutal” thoughts, which they journal thinks should be on the web for the world to see:
- I can’t enumerate all the ways in which this is horrible.
- If this were written by an eighth grader, I’d call a parent/teacher conference to discuss his anger issues. Since he’s a self-published novelist, though, I can only decline this and move on with my life.
- “I think the people who read essays in your literary magazine would probably understand it.” This essay is the kind that gives philosophy a bad name.
- Narrator/murderer describes how he is going to kill his victim and dispose of the body by mixing it into the fillings of eclairs. Then he talks about himself. God this is awful.
Some of the comments are funny, for sure, but should they be shared with the world? Of course this kind of thing goes on all the time at publications. Slush piles are awful, for the most part, and reading through them would make any well-read person cringe. So yes, everyone who has ever judged a contest or worked at a journal is guilty of these kinds of snarky comments, but if you ask me, they should be kept in house, between editors. It’s crass to publish them on the web, not to mention a little elitist and snotty.
What do you think? Am I taking this too seriously?
~ Joy
I was worried that you might find posting the nice comments to be just as inappropriate as posting snarky comments.