Great books and rotten reviews // Literary immortals can be deadly wrong

Content courtesy of

From: Chicago Sun-Times
Date: 19861116
Author:Henry Kisor

In 411 B.C. Aristophanes called Euripides a "cliche anthologist" and "maker of ragamuffin manikins." Things since then have just tumbled downhill.

In 1662, Samuel Pepys saw "Romeo and Juliet" and dubbed it "the worst that I ever heard in my life."

In 1807, Samuel Johnson's Dictionary was to Noah Webster "the greatest injury to philology that now exists."

In 1897, Mark Twain established a benchmark with this opinion about James Fenimore Cooper's The Deerslayer: "In one place . . . and in the restricted space of two-thirds of a page, Cooper has scored 114 offences against literary art ...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.



Other Articles on James Fenimore Cooper

  • Cooper, James Fenimore (1789-1851)
  • Works of James Fenimore Cooper: Brief Account Of Cooper's Life And Works
  • Student companion to James Fenimore Cooper.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
  • Cooper's 'The Last of the Mohicans.' (book by author James Fenimore Cooper)
  • Cooper's 'The Wept of Wish-Ton-Wish.' (James Fenimore Cooper)
  • The novel as "neutral ground": genre and ideology in Cooper's 'The Spy.' (James Fenimore Cooper)
  • Cooper's The Prairie.(James Fenimore Cooper's novel)
  • Essays on Nature and Landscape
  • Works of James Fenimore Cooper: Critical Commentary and Bibliography
  • Fall classic: Cooperstown, New York--now the nation's baseball shrine--was once home base for James Fenimore Cooper. (Locations).(Brief Article)
  • Find More Articles

  • About Our Articles: We've partnered with Highbeam Research to provide these article excerpts for your research needs. However, due to copyright laws, we cannot publish the whole article. To view these articles in full length you'll need to use the link above to access the free trial at Highbeam.



    - 1P2-3796012
    Art of Worldly Wisdom Daily
    In the 1600s, Balthasar Gracian, a jesuit priest wrote 300 aphorisms on living life called "The Art of Worldly Wisdom." Join our newsletter below and read them all, one at a time.
    Email:
    Sonnet-a-Day Newsletter
    Shakespeare wrote over 150 sonnets! Join our Sonnet-A-Day Newsletter and read them all, one at a time.
    Email: