critic-defying

Updated: May 25, 2025

By Cooper, indeed, the preface was looked upon not as a place to conciliate the reader, but to hurl scorn at the reviewer. In his hands it became a trumpet from which he blew from time to time critic-defying strains, which more than made up in vigor for all they lacked in prudence. This characteristic was early manifested.

Thomas Raynesford Lounsbury - James Fenimore Cooper: American Men of Letters

I have been hesitating for some time to speak or if indeed to speak at all of that lovely and critic-defying sex, whose bright eyes and voluble prattle have not been without effect in tempering the austerities of my peripatetic musing.

Bret Harte - Urban Sketches