“Both men did of course dramatize them­selves endlessly. They loved, as Bruccoli re­minds us, ‘to act out their own mytholo­gies. One played the ruined genius, the other played the titan.’ Bruccoli sorts out the play-acting for us. . . . Both Scott and Ernest cared passionately for their profession. Be­cause they also cared about each other, each had a keen awareness of the other’s talents and shortcomings, praising the former and seeking to correct the latter. . . . It is this kind of technical comment rather than the ‘try­ing to walk over each other with cleats on’ (in Scott’s phrase) that makes Matthew Bruc­coli’s latest contribution so useful and so welcome to all who care about the writer’s craft.”—Christian Science Monitor