This image is the cover for the book Letters to Dead Authors

Letters to Dead Authors

A satirical collection of letters to the great voices of literary history, from Herodotus to Jane Austen, Lord Byron, Charles Dickens, and more.

The Scottish poet and scholar Andrew Lang took a novel approach to literary criticism when he chose to address his comments to authors who could no longer receive them. Beyond both flattery and insult, dead authors proved the ideal subject for the unmitigated honesty of Lang’s assessments.

First published in 1886, Letters to Dead Authors presents a timeless collection of literary wit. In addressing his subjects, Lang finds pithy ways to skewer their still-living imitators, detractors, and devotees. The volume includes twenty-two letters to authors including Alexandre Dumas, Molière, Edgar Allan Poe, Percy Shelley, Robert Burns, and many others.

Andrew Lang

Andrew Lang (1844–1912) was a Scottish scholar and writer, best known for his folklore and mythological tales. After college, he moved to London and began working as a journalist. He began collecting fairytales and folklore stories for his first collection, The Blue Fairy Book. The Fairy Books contained hundreds of pages of folklore stories, which Lang edited while his wife helped translate. Receiving acclaim, the books totaled in 427 stories combined in twelve collections. Lang also produced his own original writing, including novels, literary criticism, and poetry, but his work did not attain the same literary recognition.

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