Publication: “A Philosopher Is Bitten by the Imp of the Perverse”

Posted on by Liz Gauffreau

Publication at Last!

I am thrilled to share that my short story, “A Philosopher Is Bitten by the Imp of the Perverse,” has been published in Book XI: A Journal of Literary Philosophy. The title is taken from Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, “The Imp of the Perverse.”

I wrote the story back in the ’90s, based on a former colleague’s experience as a doctoral student in philosophy. It was accepted for publication shortly thereafter, but the publication went *poof* into ether, never to be heard from again.

Ow! You Bit Me!

I spent the next twenty-plus years submitting the story (changing the title twice) and getting it rejected time and time again. Here is just a small sample.

154 thoughts on “Publication: “A Philosopher Is Bitten by the Imp of the Perverse””

  6. Great writing, with a most perverse ending. And I’ll always wonder what happened to this ABD former student and how he put the rest of his life together. If any of your rejectors had understood how much the protagonist worms his way into readers’ heads, this would have been published long ago.

    Kudos on your exemplary persistence!

    Liked by 1 person

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  7. Congratulations, Liz. Kate DiCamillo had 471 rejection slips before her first bite- and that won the Newbery! When our son was at Exeter, the seniors ‘proudly’ displayed their college rejections on the Wall of Shame bulletin board. Humor in the face of adversity is a good thing!

    Liked by 1 person

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