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The review, which comes not long after Kael returned from a desultory nine-month stint as a Hollywood consultant, made others in the word business a bit nervous. "Unfortunate," sniffed New Yorker Editor William Shawn, who quickly added that "every writer has a right to express himself." "Absolutely terrific!" said New York Times Critic Frank Rich. "I'm just glad it wasn't written about me." "Adler," said New York Magazine Critic David Denby, "had an 'oldfashioned' notion of prose." "I don't think that Pauline is a rigorous, logical thinker," volunteered National Review Film Critic John Simon, a past nemesis of Kael's. "But I don't think that any of us film critics are." Added Shawn: "We wouldn't be publishing Pauline Kael if we didn't admire her work very much. Her work is its own defense." Kael thought so too. "I'm sorry that Ms. Adler doesn't respond to my writing. What else can I say?" she asked, rhetorically.