The 30 Harshest Author-on-Author Insults In History

[Joseph Tracy]

I'm sure you are right about  the narrow group of readers and writers for whom high  quality writing is essential, but I am talking about the great number of college educated people who regard themselves as well read. No I don't have proof, but I think even  many English majors  have only encountered this writing as required reading for course work. I guess only a statistical sampling would give meaningful data, but his is what I find in my social contact.  Solomon said in Ecclesiates, "and of the making of books there is no end". 

On Jun 22, 2011, at 6:06 PM, malignd at aol.com wrote:

> Do you think -- know -- that this is true?  I mean, of course it is, in some sort of context:  they're not going to be read like the Harry Potter books but, here in NYC anyway, I think Joyce and Flaubert still very much resonate among  serious readers.  Little read would be Marguerite Young or Djuna Barnes or Gerald Basil Edwards. 
> Flaubert is highly praised but little read, as is Joyce.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net>
> To: pynchon-l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Sent: Wed, Jun 22, 2011 8:46 am
> Subject: Re: The 30 Harshest Author-on-Author Insults In History
> 
> 29. Robert Louis Stevenson on Walt Whitman
> “…like a large shaggy dog just unchained scouring the beaches of the world and baying at the moon.”
> This could be a particularly literate compliment for a rock album.  Hard to take the word unchained as an insult. 
> 
> One thing this exercise  shows is that strong writers have strong opinions. It also proves that you don't have to like it  no matter how"good" it is.  People just like what they like.  Flaubert is highly praised but little read, as is Joyce.  I started loving C McCarthy and now can't stand his macho last man standing against the devil shit.  
> On Jun 20, 2011, at 11:40 AM, Dave Monroe wrote:
> 
>> On Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 10:25 AM, Dave Monroe
>> <against.the.dave at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> http://flavorwire.com/188138/the-30-harshest-author-on-author-insults-in-history
>> 
>> Thanks, Basileios Drolias!
> 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://waste.org/pipermail/pynchon-l/attachments/20110623/49679cdf/attachment.html>