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The rise of mass publishing in the U.S. had effectively brought to an end the period of innovation and discovery into which they emerged, and where they had formerly been made to feel special and chosen by virtue of being young writers on whom the accolade of posterity was about to be bestowed. In this scenario, the abstract idea of mass audience has been allowed subtly to crowd out, by seeming to satisfy, the writer's constant need for a public. Books "New World Writing" and "Discovery," by rescuing the writer from what is conceived to be the obscurity of the small coterie public, have abandoned him to the infinitely more impenetrable and permanent obscurity of the mass audience.

Discusses two magazine articles published in 1963 and 1987 in "Esquire" magazine, which examine the major centers of literary power. No poets or real critics in 1987; Too much hype involved; Young writers as products of useless post-graduate programs; No real experience or growth.