Very often, the best tool for literary self-promotion is criticism. And very often, such criticism ends up devolving into outright slander. The examples are endless. The author, sometimes a future author, begins his career by opposing the model he dislikes. He censures, disapproves, lists flaws, and disparages. The target, usually long gone, does not respond. And that’s the end of it. While, on the one hand, the critic ends up refining his own ideas through criticism, on the other, he cannot prevent negative feelings from arising from it. Some time later, he will wonder: was that really necessary? And it turns out that, in literature, styles, themes, and possibilities are so varied that it is very easy to dislike something when confronted with that other, intensely strong identification. Therefore, is it justified for a writer to devote himself to attacking another writer? Undoubtedly, but only when mere preference is supplanted by a sense of betrayal of the vocation.