Conjuring up the great literary battles of the past, one thinks of Ernest Hemingway feuding with F Scott Fitzgerald, Gore Vidal rasping asides at everyone from Norman Mailer to Truman Capote; then there was Martin Amis and Julian Barnes refusing to play snooker with each other.
Enter Joanna Trollope to have a pop at JK Rowling about being on Twitter too much, likening her to Kim Kardashian. “Some writers like JK Rowling have this insatiable need and desire to be out there all the time,” said Ms Trollope. “And that’s entirely driven by their ego.”
Rowling is active on Twitter, but surely Trollope realises that this is because of the writer’s urge to avoid “proper writing” at all costs? And seeing as the topic of attention-seeking has been broached, I recall several comely kitchen-bound photo-shoots featuring Trollope lolling suggestively against Agas to publicise her novels.
At the time, did JK Rowling yell: “Stop pouting among the balsamic vinegar bottles and Maldon sea salt packets, Trollope, you trollop!”? No, she did not. Let’s hope to see no more unedifying unsisterliness. Let’s leave literary cat fighting to the men.
