It hardly matters — the Twitter community has pounced on the dustup, and the response has been considerably less charitable than anything Roberta Silman could have dished out. While some folks have been expressing that they’re “disappointed in Alice Hoffman,” others are referring to her as a “a d-bag” and a “psycho.”
Authors generally try to stay classy in the face of negative feedback, bravely showing up for their readings and working the publicity circuit despite whatever Michiko and company proclaim. When they do respond to a critic, it’s more likely to present a clarification or correction of something the writer has apparently gotten wrong. Just last week, “Strip City” author Lily Burana took Katie Roiphe to task in XX for Roiphe’s dismissal of stripper memoirs, noting with both defiance and diplomacy that “criticism is only as solid as the author’s willingness to accurately represent the works in question.”
See the full article from “Salon”