''Fire the Bastards!'' was written by Jack Green and published in his magazine ''newspaper'' in 1962. It was an acerbic critique of the book

review A review is an evaluation of a publication, product, service, or company or a critical take on current affairs in literature, politics or culture. In addition to a critical evaluation, the review's author may assign the work a content rating, ...

ing industry. Green examined the initial 55 reviews that appeared in response to the publication of

William Gaddis William Thomas Gaddis, Jr. (December 29, 1922 – December 16, 1998) was an American novelist. The first and longest of his five novels, ''The Recognitions'', was named one of TIME magazine's 100 best novels from 1923 to 2005 and two othe ...

's 1955

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...

, ''

The Recognitions ''The Recognitions'' is the 1955 debut novel of US author William Gaddis. The novel was initially poorly received by critics. After Gaddis won a National Book Award in 1975 for his second novel, ''J R'', his first work gradually received new ...

''. He discovered that some reviewers either did not read or finish the work. Almost half of the reviews contained factual errors. Many employed the same clichés: "too difficult", "too long", "too negative", "ambitious", "a promising first novel." In one case he found that a critic had purloined part of his review from another review. ''Fire the Bastards!'' appeared in book form in 1992. The publishers did not have the permission of the author to print the text. As the work had never been copyrighted, however, it was in the public domain and no permission was required for publication.Moore, Steven, "Introduction," ''Fire the Bastards!'' (Dalkey Archive Press, 1992), x-xi.

Notes and references

External links

Fire the Bastards! (complete text)
Books of literary criticism Public domain books Dalkey Archive Press books 1992 non-fiction books {{lit-criticism-book-stub