but joanna of course joanna knew him better knew that to be appreciated to be recognized was more than dc could stand he did n't want to be recognized by the critics his was a campaign of total war he would accept nothing less than utter victory for them to write about his work was to reduce it to the level of all the other books no matter the grade or number of representative stars or superlatives employed he was always annoyed read them out loud sometimes inserting himself in the frequent form of all-too-audible snorts and grunts of derision little sneers whenever she confronted him he claimed that he did n't care what they thought of him but she knew that of course it was all he cared about he craved their approval more than that he craved their worship it was not enough to be recognized he needed more than that he swore his next book would be an attack it would be their punishment for not appreciating him enough joanna thought sometimes very privately that it was spite as art .