Vicious Nonsense

The pen is truly mightier than the sword in this collection of more than a hundred digs, jabs, and outright put-downs from the world's most respected writers, about—each other! Vicious Nonsense reveals the acerbic side of beloved authors who became brutal critics when writing about their fellow wordsmiths.

James Baldwin writes on Langston Hughes, "Every time I read Langston Hughes I am amazed all over again by his genuine gifts—and depressed that he has done so little with them..." Dorothy Parker spares no love for Gertrude Stein: "To quote the only line of Gertrude Stein's which I have ever been able to understand, 'It is wonderful how I am not interested.'" Curated from letters, essays, and reviews, this sometimes stinging, sometimes good-natured, and always delightful collection will ignite the armchair critic in us all.

Kristen Hewitt is an editor at Princeton Architectural Press. She holds an MFA in poetry from Warren Wilson College and lives in Western Massachusetts. Previously, she was a staff editor at Orion, a national nonprofit environmental magazine.