REJECTION IS PART of life for everyone, even those who reach the pinnacle of success in their fields. The proof: this box used by Kurt Vonnegut to store rejection letters. (The box originally held bonbons from West’s Fine Candies, an erstwhile confectioner that stood at 2923 Central Ave.) Kurt’s daughter, Edie Vonnegut, identified handwriting in pencil to the right of the logo as her father’s and the words in ink, visible here, as her mom’s, Kurt’s first wife Jane (Cox) Vonnegut. The letters it held, now stored separately for safekeeping, were primarily from between 1948 and 1954. An array of high-profile publishers returned Kurt’s manuscripts, including The Saturday Evening Post, The Atlantic Monthly, Good Housekeeping, Collier’s, Harper’s Magazine, and Cosmopolitan (then a literary publication). “We have 16 here. The Lilly Library in Bloomington would have more. And, of course, there could have been any number Kurt tossed,” says Christopher Lafave, curator of the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library. How discouraged Kurt felt, if at all, by these early rebuffs is pure speculation.
Kurt Vonnegut’s Rejection Letter Box
Vintage: late 1940s
Resides at the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library
