Most geniuses go unpublished

If you believe our literary culture is broken and terrible, then it is impossible to believe genius always wins out

Imagine you are a well-respected author and editor, and you get a manuscript from a man you vaguely know. He is the darling of salon society, and he knows many high-society ladies that you perhaps regard as quite dull. For two decades you have heard this man wants to be a writer, but he has never produced much: a few essays, a few fragments of fiction.…