Book excerpt: Fans of literary lampoonery will delight in the no-holds-barred, scorched-earth satire that British poet Alexander Pope unleashes in his witty masterpiece, The Dunciad. Disgusted by the teeming waves of self-proclaimed "writers" who emerged in search of a quick buck when the growing availability of cheaply printed books made sentimental stories popular with the public, Pope took it upon himself to put these hacks in their place in an epic poem lambasting their dullness and lack of refinement.