The following is Arnold Bennett's astonishingly positive review of Frank Harris's The Man Shakespeare, published in the "New Age", October 21, 1909.
Bennett's small cavil about Harris's description of Shakespeare as "snobbish" was replied to by Harris in the issue published two weeks later.
Books and Persons.
(AN OCCASIONAL CAUSERIE.)
If this column has any interest of originality, it is that it expresses the point of view of the creative artist as distinguished from that of the critic. There is a one-sided feud between artists and critics. When a number of artists are gathered together you will soon in the conversation come upon signs of that feud. I admit that the general attitude of artists to critics is unfair. They expect from critics an imaginative comprehension which in the nature of the case only a creative artist can possess. On the other hand, a creative artist cannot do the work of a critic because he has neither the time nor the inclination to master the necessary critical apparatus Hence critical work seldom or never satisfies the artist, and the artist
