But some reviewers have praised Scarry's book as a successful defense of beauty. In a New York Review of Books article, philosopher Stuart Hampshire (who gets a mention in her book) praised On Beauty in highest possible terms, calling it an "utterly original blast for beauty" and a revival of a grand tradition of "the arts of attention, of exaggerated noticing."
In response to the critiques of beauty, Scarry says she intends to publish another book to defend beauty in more detail.
"I need to write a follow-up piece, explaining with additional examples the connection of beauty to justice," she says. "I hope that later in the spring to write a piece both about that and about the place of pluralism in the realms of beauty and justice."
But Scarry admits that beauty doesn't have to be delicate.
The yellow crane floating over Widener? Beautiful, she says.