Literary Rivals : Feuds and Antagonisms in the World of Books

Richard Bradford's highly entertaining book looks at some of the closest and most complex friendships in literary history and examines the fallout on relationships and on literature itself. Novelists, poets, and playwrights live double lives. When they fall out with each other they seem to do so with great passion. This highly entertaining book looks at some of the most complex friendships and enmities in literary history and examines the dramatic effects on literature itself. Grudge matches covered here include Vladimir Nabokov against Edmund Wilson; Norman Mailer, Truman Capote, Gore Vidal, Virginia Wolfe, and John Updike against each other; Ernest Hemingway's spectacular and very public falling-out with former friends Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas; Lillian Hellman against Mary McCarthy; plus many more. Richard Bradford is professor of English and a senior distinguished research fellow at the University of Ulster Novelists, poets and playwrights live double lives, sharing the real world with everyone else while spending a good deal of time in a universe of their own making. When they fall out with each other, they are able to kindle feuds and antagonisms as passionate and public as workers in any trade. Richard Bradford's highly entertaining book looks at some of the closest and most complex relationships in literary history, as well as examining their dramatic effects on literature itself. - WHO WAS THE OBJECT OF COLERIDGE'S INFATUATION THAT DROVE A W EDGE BETWEEN HIMSELF AND WORDSWORTH? - WHERE DID THACKERAY UTTER THE SINGLE SENTENCE THAT ENDED HIS TENTATIVE FRIENDSHIP WITH DICKENS? - WHY DID DIFFERING OPINIONS LEAD TO THE CESSATION OF LETTERS BETWEEN FORMER CONFIDANTS AMIS AND LARKIN? - HOW DID HEMINGWAY USE AND ABUSE STEIN'S ARTISTIC CIRCLE IN PARIS? - WHAT AMERICAN L ITERARY AMBITION SPAWNED BRUTAL COMPETITION BETWEEN CAPOTE AND V IDAL? From Tolstoy's deferred duelling and Dostoevsky's defamatory fiction, to J. C. Squire's qualms with modernism and Salman Rushdie's run-in with Islam, Literary Rivals is an enjoyable romp through the world of the fiercest writers' rivalries and the most bizarre literary stand-offs. "Novelists, poets and playwrights live double lives, sharing the real world with everyone else while spending a good deal of time in a universe of their own making. When they fall out with each other, they are able to kindle feuds and antagonisms as passionate and public as workers in any trade. Richard Bradford's highly entertaining book looks at some of the closest and most complex relationships in literary history, as well as examining their dramatic effects on literature itself. Who was the object of Coleridge's infatuation that drove a wedge between himself and Wordsworth? Where did Thackeray utter the single sentence that ended his tentative friendship with Dickens? Why did differing opinions lead to the cessation of letters between former confidants Amis and Larkin? How did Hemingway use and abuse Stein's artistic circle in Paris? What American literary ambition spawned brutal competition between Capote and Vidal? From Tolstoy's deferred duelling and Dostoevsky's defamatory fiction, to J.C. Squire's qualms with modernism and Salman Rushdie's run-in with Islam, Literary Rivals is an enjoyable romp through the world of the fiercest writers' rivalries and the most bizarre literary stand-offs."--Jacket An examination of some of the fiercest literary rivalries throughout history.