Anthony Burgess' mail
January 5, 2016 at 11:42 pm
(This post was last modified: January 5, 2016 at 11:42 pm by Excited Penguin.)
This is an actual letter Anthony Burgess received from his editor after he asked if he could submit a novella instead of a "thinkpiece" to Rolling Stone.
His editor at Rolling Stone, Hunter S. Thompson, wrote to Burgess on 17 August 1973: ‘What kind of lame, half-mad bullshit are you trying to sneak over on us? Do you take us for a gang of brainless lizards? Rich hoodlums? Dilettante thugs? You lazy cocksucker. I want that Thinkpiece on my desk by Labor Day. And I want it ready for press. The time has come & gone when cheapjack scum like you can get away with the kind of scams you got rich from in the past. Get your worthless ass out of the piazza and back to the typewriter. Your type is a dime a dozen around here, Burgess, and I’m fucked if I’m going to stand for it any longer.’
His editor at Rolling Stone, Hunter S. Thompson, wrote to Burgess on 17 August 1973: ‘What kind of lame, half-mad bullshit are you trying to sneak over on us? Do you take us for a gang of brainless lizards? Rich hoodlums? Dilettante thugs? You lazy cocksucker. I want that Thinkpiece on my desk by Labor Day. And I want it ready for press. The time has come & gone when cheapjack scum like you can get away with the kind of scams you got rich from in the past. Get your worthless ass out of the piazza and back to the typewriter. Your type is a dime a dozen around here, Burgess, and I’m fucked if I’m going to stand for it any longer.’
