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It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game. We school our kids in this from the first soccer kick on.
Bestselling author and management guru Dov Seidman built a brand around his hit 2011 book How: Why How We Do Anything Means Everything, on the business of creating more ethical corporate cultures, and uses the phrase “How Matters” in some of his company’s materials, notes the New York Times. The book’s premise is that it is no longer what you do that matters most and sets you apart from others, but how you do what you do.
In his foreword to How, President Bill Clinton said, in part:
“My friend Dov Seidman has dedicated his life’s work to studying how people conduct their business and their lives. As we settle into the twenty-first century with all of its unique challenges . . . it’s clear that people worldwide will rise or fall together. This new focus will require all of us to think about the how, and to find new ways to take action to solve the global issues that none of us can tackle alone.”
Chobani, America’s top yogurt maker, launched a brand campaign created by ad agency Droga5, with the bold tag “How Matters” and tweeted:
Then, reports Jonathan Mahler in the New York Times, Seidman sued Chobani and Droga5, and requested a court order to stop the campaign as an infringement on his trademark for the word how.
Forbes’ Phil Johnson wonders why “all parties are blinded to a valuable opportunity”:
“For full disclosure, I’ve met Dov Seidman and immensely admire his book How, for its business philosophy. I’ve also heard Hamdi Ulukaya, founder of Chobani, speak and was inspired by his passion, not to mention his yogurt. Not least of all, as the founder of an advertising agency, I’m in awe of Droga5, which has achieved megastar fame for its brilliant work for brands like UNICEF and Coke. So, why are these wildly successful people fighting?”
Why, indeed? Perhaps Dov Seidman, Chobani, and Droga5—creative minds all—can agree that how truly does matter in everything, from book publishing to consulting to yogurt, and the decision on how it ends will not be decided in court.
Written by Larissa Theule
Illustrations by Adam S. Doyle
Carolrhoda Books 10/01/2014
978-1-4677-0825
Age 8 to 12 104 pages x x
“Welcome to Bald’s Farm. Well, perhaps it’s not Bald’s Farm anymore. The old man has kicked the bucket, setting off a wave of conflict from the muddy pig pen to the tall wheat fields. In this darkly funny, slightly supernatural chain of tales, no creature is safe. Not Leonard Grey, a spider with sophisticated tastes. Not Esmeralda, a resentful one-footed pig. Not Tulip, a plant with a mean streak. And as for Bones, the old man’s son, and Fat, his winged rival? They’ll learn that danger lurks in the strangest of places . . .”
Opening
“Fat stood on the topmost branch of the tree, gazing in the direction of the farmhouse.”
The Story
Bones is the son of his father, the farm owner, who has most recently passed away. Fat is the former farmer’s fairy. They hate each other with a passion usually reserved for love. Now that Bone’s father has died, Bones will run the farm and his first priority: get rid of excess Fat.
In the span of one day, Bones tries to take out Fat, who tries to take out Bones. The pigs must move around on less and less feet to supply Bones with his favorite meal of pig foot stew. Pa may be dead, but Bones is still hungry. Ma, who is crying herself blind ventures out to the pigpen to grab a foot. Which one does she get?
Leonard’s family thinks he is the strangest spider that has ever spun a web. He cannot sneak and lives alone. He reads poetry while drinking herbal tea. Down below, Fat is making a new potion and needs the fresh blood of a spider. Leonard picks this moment to prove he can sneak. He cannot.
The Dead Man Song is for Priscilla Mae, the escaped spider for which Leonard has found love. She sees a group of animals honoring the dead farmer’s passing. Jimmy’s in Love pits mouse against mouse for the love of a mouse across the kitchen floor. Cat lurks on the floor, waiting for a wandering mouse. Sometimes he greets the mouse.
“Good afternoon, mousie-pie.”
Sometimes he pounces. Occasionally, that tricky cat does both. A mouse just never knows. Jimmy decides to take a chance but the floor is full of water—salty, tear stained water. Daisy and Tulip are the best of friends, sharing a puddle. All is well, until little sprouts move in and choke the water supply. Daisy and Tulip argue over how to get the sprouts to leave. The differences could mean the end of Tulip or Daisy.
Finally, Dog Alfred visits his Ma. Ma wants Alfred to go home. Alfred is sneezing. He has a cold. Alfred is upset, (and sets up Ma to speak a line of funny I love)
“Ma,” he said, [pleading voice] “I came all this way. I can’t go home now.” “You live next door,” she said.
Review
Fat & Bones: And Other Stories is a fast read with only 104 pages. On those 104 pages, every word counts thanks to wonderful writing and editing. Each story has something to teach kids. In Leonard Grey III, Leonard learns it is okay to be yourself and love is better than alone. Fat feels morally obligated to care for his neighbors, even when he is the one who injured said neighbor. Be nice to others; get to know your neighbors; be responsible for each other. Esmeralda must decide which is more important, her jealousy and “revenge” or the good of the group. Fat and Bones is philosophy 101 for the middle grades.
I am not a fan of the cover. The moon grinning as it does is eerie, but that is the intent. The illustrations use dark tones of green, grey, and black. The image is often part of the shadow or obscured by it. I am sorry to say, I am not a fan of these illustrations. I love the individual stories. I enjoyed the way one story depends on the other. What happens in one story—or does not happen—affects another story, which affects another, and so on, yet none may be the wiser. Fat & Bones: And Other Stories play this out for kids in a way they can understand.
Humor plays a big part, easing what are actually dark themes of death, jealousy, war, and dejection into an enjoyable, funny story, odd as that may sound. Some kids may not like the darker, philosophical themes, while others will love them. I think the older the child, the more they will enjoy Fat and Bones.
These Seven stories, all intertwined, are a great read. Each story has a unique mix of characters from the Bald Farm. Each has their own plot, conflict, and resolution, yet the stories build on each other, need each other to live. There are many things kids can learn from these stories while reading a funny, heart-felt whole divided into parts that seem to stand on their own—because they do. Older kids will enjoy this book. Adults will enjoy this book. Fat & Bones: And Other Stories is the author’s debut.
The Huffington Post‘s lawyers have urged a New York City judge to dismiss Jonathan Tasini‘s lawsuit against the company. The filing argued that “no rule of statutory or common law, in New York or elsewhere, recognizes such a remarkable and unwarranted intrusion into the relationship between publishers and contributors.”
In April, Tasini (pictured, via) filed a class action lawsuit against Arianna Huffington, The Huffington Post and AOL. The suit includes an estimated 9,000 bloggers and seeks damages of “an amount to be determined at trial but not less than $105 million.”
Here’s an excerpt from the motion (PDF link): “many of the 216 blog postings cited in the Complaint demonstrate on their face that Mr. Tasini took full advantage of the platform The Huffington Post gave him. They show, for example, that Mr. Tasini used his Huffington Post blog to sell copies of books he authored, to link to his personal “micro-blogging” account at the Twitter.com website, and to announce one of his Senatorial campaigns and solicit donations for another.” (Via PaidContent)
This morning Esquire published a parody news story claiming that World Net Daily columnist Jerome Corsi would pulp all the copies of his book, Where’s the Birth Certificate?: The Case that Barack Obama is not Eligible to be President. The post included fake quotes from the author about the book.
World Net Daily founder Joseph Farahhad this statement: “We are exploring our legal options right now … There is no question of damages from this irresponsible attack. This book was released yesterday. Our author is in day two of a media tour. This report is playing havoc with a bestselling book – and there is little question that is the intent.”
Esquireadded this update to the controversial post: “[They] accuse the President of the United States of perpetrating a fraud on the world by having released a forged birth certificate. Not because this claim is in any way based on reality, but to hold their terribly gullible audience captive to their lies, and to sell books. This is despicable, and deserves only ridicule. That’s why we committed satire in the matter of the Corsi book. Hell, even the president has a sense of humor about it all.”
Minnesota House majority leader Matt Dean has issued a halfhearted apology to fantasy author Neil Gaiman for calling him a “pencil-necked little weasel who stole $45,000 from the state of Minnesota.”
Earlier this week, Dean criticized Minnesota’s House Legacy Funding Division for paying Gaiman to appear at a speaking engagement.
Dean told Minnesota Public Radio: “[My mom] was very angry this morning and always taught me to not be a name caller. And I shouldn’t have done it, and I apologize.” Dean still insisted that the author should have “donated his time” to the patrons of the Stillwater Library.
Today paidContent published a long interview with blogger Jonathan Tasini about the class action lawsuit he filed against The Huffington Post on behalf of unpaid bloggers.
Here’s an excerpt: “I think there’s a lot of support out there. I keep getting emails from a whole variety of writers who want to join on as plaintiffs, who are giving us all sorts of inside information. There still is a lot of fear out there. Some of the people expressing opposition to what we’re doing are just bootlickers. I think people fear being blacklisted.”
Today Arianna Huffington responded to a $105 million class action lawsuit filed against The Huffington Post and AOL. Her post attacked “the pile of bile” blogger and author Jonathan Tasini leveled alongside his filing.
Here’s more from Huffington: “The key point that the lawsuit completely ignores (or perhaps fails to understand) is how new media, new technologies, and the linked economy have changed the game, enabling millions of people to shift their focus from passive observation to active participation … The same people who never question why someone would sit on a couch and watch TV for eight hours straight can’t understand why someone would find it rewarding to weigh in on the issues — great and small — that interest them. For free. They don’t understand the people who contribute to Wikipedia for free, who maintain their own blogs for free, who tweet for free, who constantly refresh and update their Facebook pages for free, and who want to help tell the stories of what is happening in their lives and in their communities… for free.”
Follow this link to read more about the suit that includes an estimated 9,000 bloggers and seeks damages of “an amount to be determined at trial but not less than $105 million.”
Forbesbroke the news today that blogger, author and former political candidateJonathan Tasini will lead a lawsuit against Arianna Huffington and her site’s new corporate parent, AOL. We will update this post as the story evolves.
Here’s more about his NY Times lawsuit, from his biography: “He was the lead plaintiff in Tasini vs. The New York Times, the landmark electronic rights case that took on the unauthorized use of workers by thousands of freelance authors in the electronic age. In a historic decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 2001 that media companies had illegally used the works of writers without their permission. That precedent lead to a series of class action lawsuits (in which Jonathan served as a principle strategist and negotiator) which lead to a mass settlement for authors in 2005 and the creation of an $18 million fund to compensate writers.”
As Congress and the Barack Obama administration struggle to reach a budget compromise, the possibility of government shutdown looms. Don’t rely on the #ifgovernmentshutsdown hashtag for information–we’ve assembled a small library of books about federal government shutdown.
The best free resource is Effects of Potential Government Shutdown, a report from a 1995 Congressional hearing about shutdowns now stored at the Internet Archive.
If you are looking for a narrative account of the 1995 and 1996 federal government shutdown, check out The Pact: Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich, and the Rivalry That Defined a Generation by Steven M. Gillon. You can sample the shutdown passages at Google Books.
In a series of tweets last night, novelist Ayelet Waldman bashed author Katie Roiphe–defending her husband, Michael Chabonin the Twittersphere.
Here is the complete set of tweets: “I am so BORED with Katie Roiphe’s ‘I like the sexist drunk writers’ bull****. She happily trashes my husband, but guess what b****? … He not only writes rings and rings and rings around you, but the same rings around your drunken literary love objects … Really Roiphe? You seek ‘slightly greater obsession w/ the sublime sentence.’ My husband’s sentences are INFINITELY more sublime than yours.”
She ended the Twitter tirade with this note: “I do not like it when people insult those I love.”
Publisher’s Weekly has more details: “Colting has agreed not to publish or otherwise distribute the book, e-book, or any other editions of 60 Years Later in the U.S. or Canada until The Catcher in the Rye enters the public domain. Notably, however, Colting is free to sell the book in other international territories without fear of interference.”
The article reports that Colting cannot include “Coming Through the Rye” as part of the book title. In addition, the author cannot refer to Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, or his legal battles in the book.
A Slate article created a fictional voice for Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger to respond to Keith Richards‘ memoir, Life.
Jagger’s imaginary manuscript includes the following observations: “Why did he write it? Or, rather, having decided to write it all down, why did he devote so much of it to carping about me? Well, he’s not talking about me, really. He’s just trying to get my attention, I think, in the end. The remaining part of the rancor comes from the fact that he knows he lost me, many years ago.”
The Jagger highlights Richards’ unprofessional behavior throughout the years and talk about the band’s long history. Would you read Jagger’s real memoir? Leave your response in the comments section.
We’ve reprinted her entire literary op-ed below. Barron wrote: “It’s Sunday afternoon, and the end of the annual Jane Austen Society of North America’s Annual General Meeting–which was rife, this year, with outrage. Six hundred and fifty Janeites in one Portland ballroom, all venting about the same thing: that Kathryn Sutherland’s attempt to promote her online database of Austen manuscript pages has gone decidedly wrong.” continued…
Yesterday conservative author Ann Coulter bashed author Michael Gross for his "gossip-girl digs at Sarah Palin" in a Vanity Fairarticle. In reality, the journalist Michael Joseph Gross wrote the profile in question, and the Coulter column buried Michael Gross under piles of misdirected hate mail.
Michael Gross wrote a letter to Coulter, asking for a correction: "You made a whopping big (though seemingly small) mistake in your column yesterday and I'm paying for it and I'm disgusted and so I am writing to ask you to help me stop the wave of sewage you've caused to wash up in my in-box. Your mistake was one that no one with a byline should make ... your mistake has been compounded by the right-wing-nuts who read your column, and before that, by others whose reading skills apparently ain't that great. So all month, I've been getting hate mail meant for Michael Joseph Gross."
What do you think? Does the column merit a correction? Earlier this year, we interviewed Michael Gross about an embargoed review copy. (Via Gawker)
In 2006, the reclusive novelist Thomas Pynchon rose to the defense of Ian McEwan during a controversy over alleged plagiarism in McEwan's novel, Atonement.
Pynchon mailed a typewritten letter to the novelist's British publisher, declaring: "Writers are naturally drawn, chimpanzee-like, to the color and the music of this English idiom." The excellent Letters of Note site has a copy of the letter, where Pynchon dismissed the scandal and urged readers to be grateful for the book.
Check it out: "Memoirs of the Blitz have borne indispensable witness, and helped later generations know something of the tragedy and heroism of those days. For Mr. McEwan to have put details from one of them to further creative use, acknowledging this openly and often, and then explaining it clearly and honorably, surely merits not our scolding, but our gratitude." (Via The Millions)
Read the whole interview to join the debate. Earlier this week, we covered Weiner's Twitter push for Franzenfreude, trying to find literary alternatives to Franzen's work. The HuffPo post also generated a passionate response from novelist Jennifer Vanderbes (pictured, via Eamon Hickey).
Vanderbes wrote: "Literary writers need review attention. Picoult and Weiner sell enough books so that their publishers can take out ad space when their novels hit stores; places like like Target will automatically stock their hardcovers; this is simply not the case for most literary writers. In targeting Franzen, they found one of the few literary writers who does sell lots of books and probably didn't even need one NYTimes review."
What do you think? Read Weiner's response below...
According to Mediaite, when PBS airs a television special about Paul McCartney's White House performance in June, they will cut the 20-second clip embedded above--where McCartney criticizes the library skills of former President George W. Bush.
At a ceremony where he was awarded the the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song by President Barack Obama, the former Beatle concluded: "After the last eight years, it's good to have a president that knows what a library is."
Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal found himself in political hot water today after sharing some revealing quotes with an author for a Rolling Stone profile. McChrystal and his aides are quoted criticizing administration officials.
McChrystal has reportedly been called back to Washington D.C., and offered this statement: "I extend my sincerest apology for this profile ... It was a mistake reflecting poor judgment and should never have happened. Throughout my career, I have lived by the principles of personal honor and professional integrity. What is reflected in this article falls far short of that standard."
Helen Thomas, the long-time White House correspondent and author, resigned today after some remarks she made regarding Israel and Palestine were widely disseminated and poorly received.
Thomas is the bestselling author of several books, including Listen Up, Mr. President: Everything You Always Wanted Your President to Know and Do. She was the correspondent for the UPI news wire until 2000, and then for Hearst newspapers after that; she has covered every president since Eisenhower.
Last Friday, her offhand remarks that Jewish people should "get the hell out of Palestine" made big news and drew intense criticism. She was subsequently dropped by her speaking agency, and is now retiring from Hearst, according to an official announcement from the media company. Thomas will turn 90 in August.
Abandon all high-mindedness all ye who enter here.
This week the Daily Beast has a gallery of literary feuds, which is as appalling as it is entertaining. How did I miss that Richard Ford spat on Colson Whitehead at a 2004 Poets & Writers event in retaliation for a bad review? That the always pugnacious Norman Mailer head-butted Gore Vidal in the green room of the Dick Cavett show may not be too surprising, but whenever events allow us to spy that (sometimes significant) gulf between an artist and his or her creation, I cannot help but marvel: how is it that the same people who possess such extraordinary insight into human behavior can acquit themselves so poorly? On one hand, given that most of these featured feuds took place before digital media existed to fan the flames, I suppose it’s reassuring to see that people were petty and peevish even before they had recourse to blogs or tweets.
Interestingly, there are those who complain that the current literary landscape has become too genteel and booster-ish, that punches are pulled for fear of censure. (Dale Peck, apparently, missed this memo. So too Paul Berman). In a 2006 article in the NYT Book Review, columnist Rachel Donadio wrote about the literary feud as an endangered species “To some, the paucity of feuds is connected to the larger state of literary culture. ‘It’s not because we no longer have feuds,’ said Fran Lebowitz, the writer. ‘It’s because we no longer have literature.’ " This strikes me as somewhat dire—I’m not convinced that there is clear and direct relationship between literary merit and public sniping. What do you think?
Have you any favorite literary feuds?
8 Comments on Authors behaving badly, last added: 6/4/2010
Not strictly "literary", my favorite fistfight is the one between Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Mario Vargas Llosa in the seventies: politics and women both. A picture of Garcia Marquez's black eye here: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/29/books/29marq.html
And Wallace Stevens slugged Hemingway: a rousing account--how factual I don't know--is in Modern Drunkard Magazine.
Interesting to know it happened way back when. The infighting does seem more pronounced and in your face these days. Maybe there was something to this solitary business where so many slots and competitiveness surely existed, just not to the massive public forum we see today.
I'm not sure we're anymore genteel these days. I think authors today risk ticking off fan bases of popular writers if they comment negatively on each other. I'm thinking of the backlash Stephen King got for slamming the popular YA writer Stephanie Meyer. Saul Bellow said, "Writers seldom wish other writers well." I wonder if he had anyone specific in mind. http://doomeagerawritingblog.blogspot.com/
Funny, why can't we see lack of feuds as PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION instead of some sign of the Death of Literature? But, also agree with other commenters that with the internet it's so easy to piss off mass quantities of people in one stroke, and when your behavior is immortalized on google or YouTube it's not so charming. The old feuds had a great quality of "rumor has it..." You could choose to say, "No, I really doubt he HEAD-BUTTED him, surely that's an exaggeration!" There was a little mystery about it. Now: no mystery.
I don't know. I think that being polite about fellow writers' work and/or a reviewer's opinion is only good manners. After all, everyone is entitled to a opinion (as in the case of a reviewer) and sometimes those opinions are better off kept quiet if that's not what your job involves (as in the case of writers sniping at other writers).
That said, I don't think honesty should be viewed so harshly. Why shouldn't we say 'yes, that review upset me, but I'll move on' instead of ignoring it publicly? We're allowed to have feelings, right? Similarly, if Stephen King didn't like Stephenie Meyer's writing, that's his opinion and it isn't fair that he gets ripped for it. Maybe it wasn't polite of him to be so critical, but I genuinely think writers should be allowed to say 'no, I have to admit I didn't like this book' and not be torn apart for it. We're readers too!
Just my two cents!
Personally, I love reading about literary feuds, they're often funny!
I'm a big fan of the civil feud between Brandon Sanderson and John Scalzi--mostly because Scalzi is highly unaware of it, and also because Sanderson gets his fans involved in taking on his "evil archnemesis."
If writers have to slug it out, I'd far rather they did it with words. And why does gentility have to be associated with a lack of verve, or wimpiness?
The competition for the Oxford poetry chair is looking more and more like a student council race, as members of the short-list rally against each other with Facebook groups, original poems, and promises of bought beer.
The Guardian reports that candidate Steve Larkin is in the lead with a little over 300 people in his Facebook group, while Geoffrey Hill, "the best-known candidate," has just 227. (After the article, it jumped to 258.) Biographer Roger Lewis called his competition "nice old codgers" in an article, and Sanskrit scholar Vaughan Pilikian promised to "pull poetry from the drawing rooms and the garrets and the palaces, and send it forth." Meanwhile, journalist Stephen Moss promised to buy a drink for anyone who votes for him.
Author Gerald Posner has hired attorney Mark Lane to fight allegations of plagiarism mounted by the Miami New Times. The paper focused on Posner following revelations that Posner had lifted passages while writing for The Daily Beast.
Posner (pictured, via) has since resigned from The Daily Beast, but Miami New Times has searched for more examples in his recent book, Miami Babylon. The new legal team argues that a conspiracy exists against the author: "an apparently well financed campaign is being launched to review other books previously written [by Posner] and to contact a publisher with a thinly veiled suggestion that his book be withdrawn from publication."
In a press release, the authors note an odd twist of legal fate. Both Lane and Posner have written conflicting accounts about the assassination of President Kennedy. Lane criticized Warren Commission Report in Rush to Judgment while Posner supported the report in Case Closed. More from Lane's letter to the newspaper follows after the jump.
A new program by the Oxford University Press attempts to take the Wikipedia model--hyperlinked repositories of information--and inject it with the thing that has been most elusive to Wikipedia so far: certifiable accuracy.
ArsTechnica reports that OUP has launched Oxford Bibliographies Online in a beta phase, with only four categories: Classics, Islamic Studies, Social Work and Criminology. From the article: "But OUP has plans to add 10-12 new subject areas (known as modules) within the next year. Each subject area contains between 50 and 100 individual entries, and that number should grow at the rate of about 50 to 75 entries per year."
Contrary to Wikipedia's anyone-can-edit method, OBO's entries are written by a collection of scholars, all of whom are working in the relevant field. The work is then vetted by a peer review process.
Of course, Wikipedia didn't just change the way we interact with encyclopedias; it offered the information for free. And that's the other key difference in OBO: It's $29.95 a month or $295.00 a year. So does this solve the accuracy problem with Wikipedia? Or does it re-introduce another, age-old problem: That only universities and libraries will be able to afford access to this verifiable data?
Currently Michael Lewis's bestseller The Big Short has 81 one-star ratings on Amazon.com and 68 five-star ratings. Those figures highlight publishing's dramatic debate this week--critics have overwhelmed the Amazon reviews section with negative reviews based on the book's lack of a Kindle edition.
Our readers had some passionate opinions. Maggie Stiefvater wrote: "[S]aying that the publishing industry is hypocritical for saying they want to hear from their readers but not appreciating non-review reviews is ridiculous. If you spray painted 'I want a Kindle version of Harry Potter' across an editor's car door, it would also be expressing your opinion -- but it wouldn't make it right."
Kassia Krozser wrote: "The publishing industry has some legitimate disputes with Amazon; I am not convinced that insulting people who buy books is the best way to express displeasure with a retailer. I've noted a real hostility toward people are very likely publishing's best customers, merely because they've made a format switch that works for their reading lives."
Tonight, an author who has fielded hate mail from third graders will be featured in a Nova documentary about one of science's most controversial topics--the planetary status of Pluto.
Last month, we reported how astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson wrote the book, The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet. The book talks about his role in the controversial (at least among grade school kids) scientific ruling that Pluto is not a planet.
Bestselling author and management guru Dov Seidman built a brand around his hit 2011 book How: Why How We Do Anything Means Everything, on the business of creating more ethical corporate cultures, and uses the phrase “How Matters” in some of his company’s materials, notes the New York Times. The book’s premise is that it is no longer what you do that matters most and sets you apart from others, but how you do what you do.
The Huffington Post‘s lawyers have urged a New York City judge to dismiss Jonathan Tasini‘s lawsuit against the company. The filing argued that “no rule of statutory or common law, in New York or elsewhere, recognizes such a remarkable and unwarranted intrusion into the relationship between publishers and contributors.”
This morning Esquire published a 
Minnesota House majority leader Matt Dean has issued a 
As Congress and the Barack Obama administration struggle to reach a budget compromise, the possibility of government shutdown looms. Don’t rely on the 
The 
A 
Yesterday conservative author Ann Coulter 
In 2006, the reclusive novelist 
Over at the 
Gen. 
The competition for the Oxford poetry chair is looking more and more like a 
Author 
Currently
Not strictly "literary", my favorite fistfight is the one between Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Mario Vargas Llosa in the seventies: politics and women both. A picture of Garcia Marquez's black eye here: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/29/books/29marq.html
And Wallace Stevens slugged Hemingway: a rousing account--how factual I don't know--is in Modern Drunkard Magazine.
Interesting to know it happened way back when. The infighting does seem more pronounced and in your face these days. Maybe there was something to this solitary business where so many slots and competitiveness surely existed, just not to the massive public forum we see today.
I'm not sure we're anymore genteel these days. I think authors today risk ticking off fan bases of popular writers if they comment negatively on each other. I'm thinking of the backlash Stephen King got for slamming the popular YA writer Stephanie Meyer. Saul Bellow said, "Writers seldom wish other writers well." I wonder if he had anyone specific in mind.
http://doomeagerawritingblog.blogspot.com/
Funny, why can't we see lack of feuds as PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION instead of some sign of the Death of Literature? But, also agree with other commenters that with the internet it's so easy to piss off mass quantities of people in one stroke, and when your behavior is immortalized on google or YouTube it's not so charming. The old feuds had a great quality of "rumor has it..." You could choose to say, "No, I really doubt he HEAD-BUTTED him, surely that's an exaggeration!" There was a little mystery about it. Now: no mystery.
I don't know. I think that being polite about fellow writers' work and/or a reviewer's opinion is only good manners. After all, everyone is entitled to a opinion (as in the case of a reviewer) and sometimes those opinions are better off kept quiet if that's not what your job involves (as in the case of writers sniping at other writers).
That said, I don't think honesty should be viewed so harshly. Why shouldn't we say 'yes, that review upset me, but I'll move on' instead of ignoring it publicly? We're allowed to have feelings, right? Similarly, if Stephen King didn't like Stephenie Meyer's writing, that's his opinion and it isn't fair that he gets ripped for it. Maybe it wasn't polite of him to be so critical, but I genuinely think writers should be allowed to say 'no, I have to admit I didn't like this book' and not be torn apart for it. We're readers too!
Just my two cents!
Personally, I love reading about literary feuds, they're often funny!
I'm a big fan of the civil feud between Brandon Sanderson and John Scalzi--mostly because Scalzi is highly unaware of it, and also because Sanderson gets his fans involved in taking on his "evil archnemesis."
You should see the hub-bub going on on Joe Konrath's blog if you want to see some pissed off authors, editors, and publishers. I'm eating it up.
What Sara Z said.
If writers have to slug it out, I'd far rather they did it with words. And why does gentility have to be associated with a lack of verve, or wimpiness?