Writers Behaving Badly

By Margaret Barry

We all know that writing can be a struggle. Even the best writers can stare at a page for what seems like hours and not be able to come up with a decent sentence—thus the phrase “tortured” artist.

Given how difficult it can be to come up with a compelling story arc and the right turn of phrase, artists should be kind to one another.

Yet sometimes they’re not—especially when ego gets in the way.

Check out Emily Temple’s countdown of what she sees as the thirty harshest insults one author has hurled at another. Some examples include:

28. Friedrich Nietzsche on Dante Alighieri
“A hyena that wrote poetry on tombs.”

23. H. G. Wells on George Bernard Shaw
“An idiot child screaming in a hospital.”

9. Truman Capote on Jack Kerouac
“That’s not writing, that’s typing.”

Dorothy Parker, famous for her razor-sharp wit and her disdain for the stupidity of others, did not make Temple’s list, but here’s one of my favorite Parker put-downs:

“This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.”
Book review by Dorothy Parker.

Let us know if we’ve missed any of Parker’s (or others’) zingers!

Photo uploaded to Flickr Creative Commons.