Review of "Mortification: Writers’ Stories of Their Public Shame," edited by Robin Robertson

 Review of

Mortification: Writers’ Stories of Their Public Shame, edited by Robin Robertson, ISBN 0007170580

Four out of five stars

Many ways a public signing/reading can go wrong

 According to the conventional wisdom, writers are a bit unstable and insecure, needing praise and attention in order to gain the energy to write their next piece. This book does not feed that narrative, for it consists of short pieces by writers where they suffered severe indignities or embarrassments.

 Most of the stories are about readings/signings where few people attended. In some cases, the only ones there were the author and the host. Some of this was due to incompetence by the hosts, in other cases the writer was unable to find the location within a reasonable length of time. In the worst situations, people knew of the event and just didn’t care.

 Virtually everything that can go wrong with traveling and presenting is described in these pages. From no food or drink to insignificant amounts to sleeping in dives where there were veritable armies of insects eager to taste of human flesh. All are mentioned in various tones of after the fact amusement to continuing fury.

 The only advice for budding authors that can be found in this book is that even the great ones are occasionally humiliated.

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