Portfolio blogger Jeff Bercovici revealed yesterday afternoon that Lee Siegel backed out of an interview when he realized that Bercovici was the guy who openly questioned why Jon Stewart didn't push Siegel harder when the book reviewer and cultural commentator appeared on The Daily Show to plug his latest book, Against the Machine. It's actually somewhat comforting to hear that Siegel's scorning other media bloggers; it helps me take much less personally the cold shoulder I got when we ran into each other at a book party a few months after I'd pointed out his misreading of a crucial plot point in Alice Sebold's The Almost Moon.

Well, this should make his appearance at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books next week interesting, considering that co-panelist James Marcus (my former co-worker!) took Siegel to task on his blog for "bash[ing] postwar fiction for its puddle-deep characterization without mentioning a single author," then observing that "once you consider some actual examples, the thesis begins to fall apart." I'd go watch the sparks fly, but I'm planning to spend that morning "backstage" in the no-doubt vain hope that I'll get a chance to say hello to Gore Vidal.