Writers are a bitchy bunch.
They live and work in solitude nearly all the time, they’re regularly reading others’ work to get better, and they critique each others’ work with a passion unlike any other profession.
It may be the competition, perhaps it’s a seething jealousy, or maybe a genuine distain of another writers’ style; either way, writers are a mean bunch when it comes to talking smack about one another.
They live and work in solitude nearly all the time, they’re regularly reading others’ work to get better, and they critique each others’ work with a passion unlike any other profession.
It may be the competition, perhaps it’s a seething jealousy, or maybe a genuine distain of another writers’ style; either way, writers are a mean bunch when it comes to talking smack about one another.
There were the two poets Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine who started as collaborators, but that ended when Verlaine shot Rimbaud through the wrist over an argument about the latter’s refusal to return to Paris.
See, writers are a bitchy bunch. But sometimes the pen is mightier than the … gun?
Don’t believe me, here’s a rundown of some delicious literary catfights.
Rivalry No. 1: William Faulkner Vs. Mark Twain
“[A] hack writer who would not have been considered fourth rate in Europe, who tricked out a few of the old proven ‘sure fire’ literary skeletons with sufficient local color to intrigue the superficial and the lazy.” — Faulkner on Twain
Although, Mark Twain was a bit of a bitch too, as referenced by rivalry No. 2
Rivalry No. 2: Mark Twain Vs. the WORLD
“I often want to criticize Jane Austen, but her books madden me so that I can’t conceal my frenzy from the reader; and therefore I have to stop every time I begin. Every time I read Pride and Prejudice, I want to dig her up and hit her over the skull with her own shin-bone.” — Twain on Austen
Damn that’s cold Mr. Twain.
Twain bashed Sir Walter Scott, saying his writing did more harm than any individual that ever wrote.
“Cooper's art has some defects. In one place in ' and in the restricted space of two-thirds of a page, Cooper has scored 114 offences against literary art out of a possible 115. It breaks the record.” - Twain's review of James Fenimore Cooper’s Deerslayer, Twain complained
And while the complaints about those enviable writers were bad enough, Twain’s bitter streak is really apparent in his 1876 quote about Bret Harte.
“Harte is a liar, a thief, a swindler, a snob, a sot, a sponge, a coward, a Jeremy Diddler, he is brim full of treachery, and he conceals his Jewish birth as carefully as if he considered it a disgrace. How do I know? By the best of all evidence, personal observation.” - Twain on Bret Harte
That … well it takes the cake.
Nothing beats the Faulkner/Hemmingway saucefest though.
Rivalry No. 3: William Faulkner Vs. Ernest Hemmingway
“No courage. Never been known to use a word that might send the reader to a dictionary.” —Faulkner about Hemmingway.
Faulkner 1 Hemmingway 0
“Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words?” — Hemmingway on Faulkner
Faulkner 1 Hemmingway 1
“Have you ever heard of anyone who drank while he worked? You’re thinking of Faulkner. He does sometimes – and I can tell right in the middle of a page when he’s had his first one.” — Ernest Hemingway, again.
Advantage, Hemmingway; who by all accounts was also a ridiculous drunk. So, glass houses …?
But then Hemmingway hated everyone.
Rivalry No. 4 Hemmingway Vs. EVERYONE.
“If I knew that by grinding Mr. Eliot into a fine dry powder and sprinkling that powder over [Joseph] Conrad’s grave Mr. Conrad would shortly appear…. I would leave for London tomorrow morning with a sausage grinder.” – Hemmingway on T.S. Eliot
“To me he is an enormously skillful f#*&-up and his book will do great damage to our country. Probably I should re-read it again to give you a truer answer. But I do not have to eat an entire bowl of scabs to know they are scabs...I hope he kills himself....” – Hemmingway on James Jones
Just … ew.
Hemmingway’s hate for F. Scott Fitzgerald was well known. Even though the two started out as friends, he later openly talked about Fitzgerald's bad marriage, slagged his struggles as a writer and actually called him a “moaner and a sissy.”
Fitzgerald, as Hemminway predicted, didn’t respond with similar jabs, and instead wrote; “Please lay off me in print. It cost me a night's sleep."
Those saucy bitches.
See, writers are a bitchy bunch. But sometimes the pen is mightier than the … gun?
Don’t believe me, here’s a rundown of some delicious literary catfights.
Rivalry No. 1: William Faulkner Vs. Mark Twain
“[A] hack writer who would not have been considered fourth rate in Europe, who tricked out a few of the old proven ‘sure fire’ literary skeletons with sufficient local color to intrigue the superficial and the lazy.” — Faulkner on Twain
Although, Mark Twain was a bit of a bitch too, as referenced by rivalry No. 2
Rivalry No. 2: Mark Twain Vs. the WORLD
“I often want to criticize Jane Austen, but her books madden me so that I can’t conceal my frenzy from the reader; and therefore I have to stop every time I begin. Every time I read Pride and Prejudice, I want to dig her up and hit her over the skull with her own shin-bone.” — Twain on Austen
Damn that’s cold Mr. Twain.
Twain bashed Sir Walter Scott, saying his writing did more harm than any individual that ever wrote.
“Cooper's art has some defects. In one place in ' and in the restricted space of two-thirds of a page, Cooper has scored 114 offences against literary art out of a possible 115. It breaks the record.” - Twain's review of James Fenimore Cooper’s Deerslayer, Twain complained
And while the complaints about those enviable writers were bad enough, Twain’s bitter streak is really apparent in his 1876 quote about Bret Harte.
“Harte is a liar, a thief, a swindler, a snob, a sot, a sponge, a coward, a Jeremy Diddler, he is brim full of treachery, and he conceals his Jewish birth as carefully as if he considered it a disgrace. How do I know? By the best of all evidence, personal observation.” - Twain on Bret Harte
That … well it takes the cake.
Nothing beats the Faulkner/Hemmingway saucefest though.
Rivalry No. 3: William Faulkner Vs. Ernest Hemmingway
“No courage. Never been known to use a word that might send the reader to a dictionary.” —Faulkner about Hemmingway.
Faulkner 1 Hemmingway 0
“Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words?” — Hemmingway on Faulkner
Faulkner 1 Hemmingway 1
“Have you ever heard of anyone who drank while he worked? You’re thinking of Faulkner. He does sometimes – and I can tell right in the middle of a page when he’s had his first one.” — Ernest Hemingway, again.
Advantage, Hemmingway; who by all accounts was also a ridiculous drunk. So, glass houses …?
But then Hemmingway hated everyone.
Rivalry No. 4 Hemmingway Vs. EVERYONE.
“If I knew that by grinding Mr. Eliot into a fine dry powder and sprinkling that powder over [Joseph] Conrad’s grave Mr. Conrad would shortly appear…. I would leave for London tomorrow morning with a sausage grinder.” – Hemmingway on T.S. Eliot
“To me he is an enormously skillful f#*&-up and his book will do great damage to our country. Probably I should re-read it again to give you a truer answer. But I do not have to eat an entire bowl of scabs to know they are scabs...I hope he kills himself....” – Hemmingway on James Jones
Just … ew.
Hemmingway’s hate for F. Scott Fitzgerald was well known. Even though the two started out as friends, he later openly talked about Fitzgerald's bad marriage, slagged his struggles as a writer and actually called him a “moaner and a sissy.”
Fitzgerald, as Hemminway predicted, didn’t respond with similar jabs, and instead wrote; “Please lay off me in print. It cost me a night's sleep."
Those saucy bitches.