[Ads-l] Adage Origin: The Only Good Author Is a Dead Author

[Stephen Goranson]

Perhaps someone has already traced this.
If so, what is the chronological relation with "the only good Indian is a
dead Indian" and "a good Indian is a dead Indian"?



On Tue, Sep 16, 2025 at 1:54 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <
00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> Living authors are often viewed with a mixture of suspicion and
> aggravation. Here are three versions of a pertinent adage:
>
> (1) The only good author is a dead author.
> (2) All good authors are dead authors.
> (3) The best author is a dead author.
>
> Jesse Sheidlower inquired off-line about this saying. Interestingly,
> there are two different interpretations. Publishers and editors use
> the adage to encapsulate a collection of complaints about writers,
> e.g., late manuscripts, poor quality writing, and exorbitant monetary
> demands.
>
> Academics and critics use the adage to signal that a delay is required
> when evaluating the worthiness of a writer. Typically, the quality,
> impact, and longevity of a literary oeuvre can only be accurately
> judged many years after the author has died.
>
> Here is a link to the QI article:
> https://quoteinvestigator.com/2025/09/16/good-author/
>
> The earliest match I found in the domain of publishing and editing
> appeared on September 29, 1886. Anonymous editors received credit. The
> earliest match in the domain of criticism and academia appeared on May
> 29, 1895. The attribution was anonymous. Here is the beginning of an
> overview showing selected examples together with dates and
> attributions:
>
> 1886 Sep 29: … they will not pay a man for manuscript unless he will
> agree to die before it is put in print. This precaution is taken so
> that the author can’t come in afterward and “cuss” about the bad
> proofreading. Also on the theory that the only really good author is a
> dead one. (Attributed to anonymous “western editors”)
>
> 1895 May 29: We must not conclude that all good books are old books,
> nor that all good authors are dead authors. (Anonymous)
>
> 1903 Feb: It is unnecessary to assume, of course, that the only good
> authors are dead authors. Undue depreciation of the literature of the
> day may be quite as futile as undue approval … (Edward Fuller)
>
> 1906 Sep 20: From the teacher’s point of view one is tempted to lay
> down the rule that the only good authors are dead authors. (Irving
> Babbitt)
>
> 1916 Apr 22: It is a mistake to suppose that the only good authors are
> dead ones. Some colleges have fostered the idea that literary genius
> is extinct. (A. S. Mackenzie)
>
> 1919 May: They were often bookworms that had bored their way through
> countless musty volumes, it being their first axiom that the only good
> author is a dead author. (Attitude ascribed to “old college
> professors” by Elizabeth Hodgson)
>
> 1921 May: There have always been—there will always be—people like Mr.
> Knox, who feel that the only good author is a dead author, and the
> only good story an unpopular story. (Attitude ascribed to Vicesimus
> Knox by an unnamed writer)
>
> Earlier citations and interesting material would be welcome.
> Garson
>
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>

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org