Ernest Hemingway Got Punched In The Jaw, And Other Famous Literary Fights (PHOTOS)

Stereotypically, artists are stormy, temperamental, and moody. These literary figures feed the stereotype with their classic feuds.

We asked readers on Twitter and Facebook what their favorite literary fisticuffs were, and this is what we got back.

Did we miss any of your favorite brawls? Let us know in the comments!

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C.S. Lewis vs. J.R.R. Tolkien

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The two had major disagreements about religion. J.R.R. Tolkien was upset by C.S. Lewis's blatantly clear Christian symbolism and also by the fact that Lewis had adopted Anglicanism as opposed to Tolkien's Catholicism.

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The two had major disagreements about religion. J.R.R. Tolkien was upset by C.S. Lewis's blatantly clear Christian symbolism and also by the fact that Lewis had adopted Anglicanism as opposed to Tolkien's Catholicism.

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This Brawl

Rank #2  |  Average: 4

That was just a scuffle It's amazing no one died!

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Comments

[Ergon]

09:33 PM on 02/20/2011

Which bring us to the mother of all literary feuds, Ayatollah Khomeini vs Salman Rushdie:
http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/burning/sr-death.html

[Ergon]

09:28 PM on 02/20/2011

The John le Carre, Christopher Hitchens, and Salman Rushdie threesome, to be enjoyed here in its entirety: http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/burning/le-carre-vs-rushdie.html

[Ergon]

09:20 PM on 02/20/2011

Mary McCarthy about Lillian Helman "Every word she writes is a lie, including and and the" :)

[stargazer13]

03:02 PM on 02/12/2011

I would add Zackariah Stitchen and David Icke

with Zack telling David to back off and David saying no way !

[TheBaffler]

11:17 PM on 02/10/2011

I already loved Wallace Stevens immensely. Learning that he punched the overrated Hemingway only increases my admiration.

[MrsDunbar]

10:18 AM on 02/10/2011

That's Dick Cavett. A "caveat" is a warning ... perhaps about your proofreading skills?

[Whitney Snyder]

05:13 PM on 02/13/2011

Thanks for catching this. We're fixing this now.

[Andrew Hughes]

12:31 AM on 02/10/2011

Damn sorry for the typos last post. Have to get used to an iPAd touch screen in a bar. Problem? Meet me in the ring!

[Andrew Hughes]

12:29 AM on 02/10/2011

Morally Callaghan. Camdian. Writer. Took on Hemmingway in the ring in Paris during that moveable feast. Did alright!

[Derek Lantin]

08:54 PM on 02/09/2011

Sir
During a TV interview, Mickey Spillane was asked if he objected to the adverse comments written about him by Ernest hemingway. Spillane paused and then asked "Ernest who...?"
The audience loved it. Hemingway was not amused.
Sincerely, Derek Lantin. http://dereklantin.booksabuzz.com

[I AM AN EXIT]

08:24 AM on 02/10/2011

Mickey who?

[donaldperrone]

08:35 AM on 02/11/2011

Derek who?

[ChrisRoberts]

08:45 PM on 02/09/2011

Besides getting knotted up by Mailer at the Dick Cavett Show, Vidal also had a drink thrown in his face at an upscale party by none other then, Norman Mailer. It' seems like Vidal was Mailer's own private punching bag.

Norman Mailer is infamous for having stabbed his second wife Adele Morales. Given that she published her memoir, "The Last Party" the cowardly stabbing by Mailer can be considered a famous literary fight. A bit of a stretch, since her book was published in 1997 and the stabbing was in 1960.

[doglove]

09:18 PM on 02/11/2011

Mailer and Rip Torn. Mailer bit off his ear lobe

[ChrisRoberts]

03:43 PM on 02/09/2011

File this under an almost fight: "Such was the angle and lighting of his face (T.S. Eliot), it produced in me an overwhelming desire to smash it, but luckily I restrained myself."
Hart Crane, letter to Gorham Munson, 1927.

[bmora]

03:40 PM on 02/09/2011

Buckley and Chomsky. Chomsky and Dershowitz

[ChrisRoberts]

03:46 PM on 02/09/2011

Chomsky and a ten-year-old boy:

Noam Chomsky: "Yes, Universal Grammar is an integral function of the Minimalist Program."

Ten-Year-Old Prodigy: "It is flawed conceptually. MP is predicated on the theory that perfection is realized through Universal Grammar, using only that which is necessary. One cannot achieve perfection working in theories. Your premise is unfeasible."

Noam Chomsky, his life's work in ruins, leaves the stage, Harvard, 1991.

[bmora]

05:59 PM on 02/09/2011

HAHA!

[wowme]

03:16 PM on 02/09/2011

I guess they were extremists

[2SoonOld2LateSmart]

02:40 PM on 02/09/2011

Actually, Wm. F. Buckley should have been included with Vidal and Mailer as a threesome. I believe all feuded with each other fiercely over the years, maybe not always with fists and headbutts, though :)

[ptrgamb]

02:26 PM on 02/09/2011

Dick Caveat, huh? Interesting typo.
You left out the ladies. Lillian Hellman vs. Mary McCarthy was actually the first one that came to mind for me.