Talk:The Sweet Flypaper of Life

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A fact from The Sweet Flypaper of Life appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 18 June 2021 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that Roy DeCarava's photos of Black Harlem life later included in The Sweet Flypaper of Life were rejected by at least two major publishers before Langston Hughes wrote the book's accompanying text?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2021/June. The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/The Sweet Flypaper of Life.

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Did you know nomination

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Desertarun (talk) 07:07, 13 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

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... that although the photographs in The Sweet Flypaper of Life were described as "unpublishable in book form", after Langston Hughes wrote accompanying text it became a critical and commercial success?

Reviewed: ~~Template:Did you know nominations/Dictyota implexa (1/2)~~ Template:Did you know nominations/Flame-colored tanager (2/3)

Created by Firefangledfeathers (talk) and Eddie891 (talk). Nominated by Eddie891 (talk) at 15:01, 5 May 2021 (UTC).[reply]

Interesting book, on fine sources, subscription source accepted AGF, no copyvio obvious. - I am not happy with the hook. Probably the name of the author tells others about the black Haarlem background, but not me, - "unpublishable" made me rather think of "regarded as indecent". "Critical and commercial success" is something many books enjoy, - many characters not particular to this very one. I think the photographer deserves to be mentioned. You could say how many publishers rejected. I find interesting that the photos came first, the story fiction around them. - If nothing comes to your mind, I'll approve, but so far I hope ;) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 16:34, 18 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Firefangledfeathers, did you hear me? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:43, 7 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I didn't! Thanks for the ping. Let me think through your points. Firefangledfeathers (talk) 22:06, 7 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

ALTS by the WP:DISCORD

ALT1 ... that when Roy DeCarava saw the size of his photographs in The Sweet Flypaper of Life, he almost burst into tears and called it a "puny little book"?

ALT2 ~~... that despite being initially labelled as "unpublishable in book form", The Sweet Flypaper of Life was included in The New York Times's December list of 250 Outstanding Books of the Year?~~

I'm not perfectly happy with these myself, but are they better to you? Eddie891 ^Talk _Work 22:31, 7 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

ALT3 ... that Roy DeCarava's photos of Black Harlem life later included in The Sweet Flypaper of Life were rejected by at least two major publishers before Langston Hughes wrote the book's accompanying text?

Does that address some of your concerns? Firefangledfeathers (talk) 00:59, 8 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

yes, and thank you. I like ALT1 for being attractive by something quirky and ALT3 for saying what it is. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 09:13, 8 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]