"As for the title of the piece—"The Snarky, Dumbed-Down World of Book Reviewing"—Ms. Julavits said that "you should know that people give you titles, and titles happen to you," she said. "Titles are different from the animal—and you know that."

Perhaps Mr. Eggers wrote the headlines to juice up the cover?

"No," she replied, "all I’m saying is headlines serve a different purpose than the piece."

Finally, she confessed to having written it herself: "I’m guilty of doing it, yes."