{"id":2314,"date":"2012-02-27T13:35:22","date_gmt":"2012-02-27T17:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/?p=2314"},"modified":"2013-10-24T20:23:18","modified_gmt":"2013-10-25T00:23:18","slug":"hall-to-mcnair-february-8-1980-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/hall-to-mcnair-february-8-1980-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Hall to McNair: February 8, 1980"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\"Hall-to-McNair-02-08-1980\"<\/a>\"Hall-to-McNair-02-08-1980\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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

8 February 1980<\/p>\n

Wes McNair
\nBox 43
\nN. Sutton, NH 03260<\/p>\n

Dear Wes,<\/p>\n

Thank you for writing as you did. I am sorry to be
\nthe source, or the effective cause, of such unhappiness.
\nThis too will pass, and in the meantime \u2013 as you say so
\neloquently \u2013 something has happened to be learned from.<\/p>\n

Although Joey did not do terribly well for you, certain
\nthings may be opening up. No sign of interest from New Yorker,
\nbut I think that things are quite chaotic there right now, and
\nI would not be too discouraged about it. When you write new
\nthings, I think you ought to try them there. Hayden
\nCarruth has shown an interest in your work, and I think you
\nought to try again. When you write him with new poems, do
\nremind him that I showed him some earlier \u2013 because I did
\nit in my own person.<\/p>\n

However, do be terribly careful, please, not ever to
\nmention the connection between Joey and me.
\n[Written in margin<\/em>: to anyone.] It would be a
\nmatter of great embarrassment to me if any of these poetry
\neditors, some of whom I know under my own name!, realized
\nthat I was corresponding with them under another.<\/p>\n

As I sent out the poems, many magazines took forever
\nto answer. (One of them was Poetry, by the way, with the
\nfirst batch; and then they did take two later. So these long
\ndelays were perhaps not all a waste of time.) But the minute
\nthey came back, I sent them out again the same day. So the
\nnotion that nine months meant that you should not take seriously
\nthe possibility that you might be published\u2026well, obviously
\nI think that was a very strange thought. Or it was a strange
\nthought that you would then feel free to publish them elsewhere
\nwithout letting me know, while I was still madly sending them
\nout\u2026<\/p>\n

But I need not repeat myself, I realize! Your remorse
\nis bad enough, and there\u2019s no point in rehearsing things.<\/p>\n

I take it that the two poems which <\/del>Poetry ^has taken have not been
\npublished elsewhere. \u2026I do<\/span> know that your publication of
\n\u201cThe Thin Man\u201d in the Concord Monitor was only na\u00efve. \u2026The
\nthing to remember is that publishing is publishing, period.
\nThat there is nothing which is tantamount to this or tantamount
\nto that. All they are interested in is whether something has<\/p>\n

2\/<\/p>\n

been published or not.<\/p>\n

Now for that matter, I merely generalize. If you
\nsend \u201cThe Thin Man\u201d out again, to other magazines, I suggest
\nthat you always tell the editor that it appeared in a news-
\npaper interview in a newspaper called the Concord Monitor
\nwith a circulation of blah blah blah. Somebody may take it
\nanyway. Certainly some small magazine, with a small circulation,
\nwould feel free to take it. Or quite possibly the Boston
\nMonthly might feel free to take it. I merely mean that if
\nthe New Yorker had taken it, where it was sitting while it
\nappeared in the Concord Monitor, the New Yorker would def-
\ninitely have gone back on its acceptance. And that most of
\nthe self-respecting quarterlies and monthlies \u2013 Atlantic,
\nPoetry, etc. \u2013 would not take it after it appeared in the
\nConcord Monitor, if they knew about it.<\/p>\n

For that matter, the Harvard Magazine would take it.
\nAnd just to prove<\/span> to you that my regard and high wishes
\nfor your work continues intact, may I please have The Thin Man
\nfor the Harvard Magazine, when it comes back from the Virginia
\nQuarterly? I<\/span> do not mind reprinting from the Concord Monitor.<\/p>\n

May I?<\/p>\n

Don<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n

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

[Click image to view] 8 February 1980 Wes McNair Box 43 N. Sutton, NH 03260 Dear Wes, Thank you for writing as you did. I am sorry to be the source, or the effective cause, of such unhappiness. This too will pass, and in the meantime \u2013 as you say so eloquently \u2013 something has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2341,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35324,596,42965,35504,42973],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2314"}],"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\/2341"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2314"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9495,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2314\/revisions\/9495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}