Lee Siegel, author of two collections of criticism, confesses that for years, he earned a living writing negative book reviews. His piece, “Burying the Hatchet: The Death of the Negative Book Review,” describes the negative review as one that implies a sense of authority that the positive review lacks.
As the Internet turns the matter of authority on its head, however, it becomes all the more important to remember the words of Elizabeth Hardwick: “Making a living is nothing; the great difficulty is making a point, making a difference—with words.”
