CMP Review 2025-06-10

June 10, 2025

What would Rosalind (of As You Like It) say if she could tell us what she thought of Shakespeare?

When is someone walking into a bookstore as pure an idealist as a saint?

Why is the love of Romeo and Juliet eternal?

Why is the desire to read despotic in its demands?

Is criticism always analytical or can it ever be creative?

How do you know if the chicken is fresh?

It takes an unusual mind to think of such eccentric questions, let alone to answer (some of them) and to weave them together in a meaningful way.

But such is the mind of Felix Hope, whose two-part series on readers and critics fascinated the subscribers of The Parents’ Review in 1924. Now it can surprise you too, with a chuckle, a challenge, and an inspiration almost guaranteed. And as a special bonus, it has the only reference to σχολή — scholé — I’ve ever seen in the Parents’ Review. Read or listen here!

@artmiddlekauff