All The Great Writers Summary

A testy book publisher, Henry Mason, interviews two would-be clients who drop into his office demanding to talk. One has had his manuscript rejected and the other wants an advance on a story idea. Mason considers such writers worse than salesmen, but when his receptionist, Francine, is unable to get rid of them, allows them to come in.

Mason tells the angry James Burkett that he runs a business, whose profits depend on accepting only books that will sell. Artists are "intolerably dull" and short-sighted, believing they are great no matter how bad they are. They cite Van Gogh and Mozart as unrecognized geniuses, but Mason could cite 50,000 intolerable idiots trying to get published. Mason admits that his client, Bukowski, has slipped, but insists that "the shit" that he writes sells. He advises Burkett to try another...