Then there are those rejections that take the form of no response at all. Like you, I had a file of paper rejections (of course only the ones that had good things to say about my work ;-). Reading your essay has me caught between smiling (at the Orwell rejection) and cringing (at the Baldwin one). Doesn’t it boil down to a witch’s brew of an editor’s subjectivity, perceived market, and short-sightedness? My own experience has me making peace with the fact that (apart from a standard rejection form), an editor needs to come up with some reason for saying no. And the last line of your terrific essay really says it all.