{"id":2232,"date":"2012-04-30T12:44:11","date_gmt":"2012-04-30T16:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/?p=2232"},"modified":"2013-11-05T15:35:19","modified_gmt":"2013-11-05T19:35:19","slug":"mcnair-to-hall-february-8-1983","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/mcnair-to-hall-february-8-1983\/","title":{"rendered":"McNair to Hall: February 8, 1983"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\"Letter<\/a>\"Letter<\/a>\"Letter<\/a><\/p>\n

[Click image to view]<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

February 8, 1983<\/p>\n

Dear Don\u2014<\/p>\n

Enclosed are a couple of letters, one from Costanzo
\nto me, the other from me to him. They will explain
\nthe current situation with Carnegie-Mellon\u2014good,
\nthough still iffy. I thought Joey might want to
\nhave them.<\/p>\n

For your\u2014and his\u2014information, I have sent
\nthe book to AWP, Walt Whitman, and
\nthe National Poetry Series. Please let me know
\nif you think I should send it to U Missouri\u2014
\nIs the so-called “Breakthrough Series\u201d there
\na good thing to shoot for\u2014or not?<\/p>\n

Finally saw your NYTimes<\/span> article, and
\nenjoyed it. I believe<\/span> a published book would
\nnot \u201csustain\u201d me\u2014but I still want one!<\/p>\n

Love,<\/p>\n

Wes<\/p>\n

PS\u2014Thanks for the Atlantic<\/span> Monthlys<\/span>!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

February 1, 1983<\/p>\n

Dear Wesley McNair,<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sorry not to have responded sooner. We began reading
\nmanuscripts in November and we received so many more than we\u2019d
\nexpected to that we didn\u2019t finish until mid-January. The real
\nbind we\u2019ve found ourselves in is a financial one however.
\nNEA eliminated \u201cGeneral programs\u201d to which we apply and put
\nuniversity presses in with small presses. This decision was
\nannounced two weeks about the deadline for small press applications
\nand they would not accept late applications. We are in the
\nsame boat as Pitt, Georgia, and others. We miss a year of
\nfinding from them and cannot hope for any funds until Sept. of
\nthis year. I\u2019d hoped to get some additional funding for
\npoetry from the university, but it didn\u2019t happen. What this
\nmeans is that we\u2019ll only be able to produce three books in 1983
\ninstead of six to eight. These books are in progress now
\nand were accepted last year.<\/p>\n

Out of the latest round of readings the only manuscripts I\u2019d
\nwant to publish are yours and Patricia Goedicke\u2019s, and I\u2019m
\nsorry I can\u2019t offer each of you contracts right now. I\u2019m not
\npermitted to offer contracts withoutactual (sic) money in place to
\nproduce the book.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to ask if you\u2019d be willing to let me keep a copy of
\nyour manuscript until September. No doubt you have it circulating
\nelsewhere and to continue to do so would be fine with me. I
\ncan\u2019t guarantee you anything because I have no guarantee that
\nI\u2019ll ever have money for poetry again. But I hope to, and as
\nyou know from last year, I like your manuscript. Certainly I\u2019ll
\nbe able to give you a decision by then. I don\u2019t want you feeling
\nin limbo (like I feel), and continuing to circulate your manuscript
\nshould help that. If you\u2019re agreeable, I\u2019d like you to let me
\nknow as soon as possible. Again, I\u2019m sorry I can\u2019t offer to
\npublish it right now: THE FACES OF AMERICANS is a terrific book!<\/p>\n

Yours,
\nGerald Constanzo<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

February 7, 1983<\/p>\n

Dear Jerry Costanzo:<\/p>\n

Thank you for your letter. I am sorry to hear about your problem
\nwith funds. It is bad news\u2014easily as bad for you as for me. I
\ncan imagine how frustrating the N.E.A. switch must have been,
\ngiven the publication schedule you had hoped for.<\/p>\n

Still, I am very glad you like my book well enough that you
\nmight want to publish it. I do understand that there are no
\nguarantees here, and why there can be none. But I would be
\nmost pleased to have you do the book, if that should turn out
\nto be possible. I am therefore entirely willing that you keep a
\ncopy of the manuscript until September, when you will be better
\nable to make your decision.<\/p>\n

On the chance you may not be able to publish my manuscript, I
\nwill continue to circulate it, as you suggest. In the meantime,
\nthank you very much for taking the time to fill me in on your
\npredicament. And thanks especially for saying my book is
\n\u201cterrific\u201d. Your enthusiasm continues to sustain me, in spite
\nof all!<\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

Wesley McNair<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\n

Editorial note about this<\/strong> <\/span>letter:<\/span><\/strong><\/em> The Atlantic Monthly<\/em>s McNair mentions in his post script were complimentary author copies sent by Joey.<\/p>\n\n

\n <\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Click image to view] February 8, 1983 Dear Don\u2014 Enclosed are a couple of letters, one from Costanzo to me, the other from me to him. They will explain the current situation with Carnegie-Mellon\u2014good, though still iffy. I thought Joey might want to have them. For your\u2014and his\u2014information, I have sent the book to AWP, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2206,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35322,35504,42982,42963,293],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2232"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2206"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2232"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10423,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2232\/revisions\/10423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}