Bukowski was no liar (1 Viewer)

[cirerita]

you know, I've read a zillion times B saying he submitted millions of short stories to the Atlantic Monthly and Harper's, and that none of them were ever accepted. But I always had my doubts, secretly hoping some of them were accepted and B never got to know it -remember he was on the move at that time!
So I took my time and wrote a brief note to those publications. Here's the response from Harper's:

Thank you for writing. Searching our internal database, from 1850 through 2003 there were no hits for Bukowski. It seems, as far as I can tell, that none of his writing was published in Harper's Magazine. Sincerely, Eve

 

[mjp]

Yeah, Harper's was a big-time national publication, and if Bukowski had appeared in there or Atlantic Monthly, I would think it would have shown up long ago...

 

[cirerita]

I wouldn't be so sure. I think not too many people know the fact that B did submit a lot of short stories to those publications in the early 40's. From that people, probably 99% took Bukowski's words for granted -that is, his being rejected- and firmly believed him and never bothered to check it out. But there was this really small chance that maybe he was published and he didn't know it somehow.

It was a small chance indeed...

 

[mjp]

Well, you double-checked, and that's what makes you a good private eye!