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.