Clarence Darrow Critical Essay | Critical Essay by New York Times Book Review

Critical Essay by New York Times Book Review

SOURCE: "The Heart of a Boy," in the New York Times Book Review, October 8, 1904, p. 676.

In the following review of Farmington, the anonymous critic calls the book "insidiously iconoclastic," noting Darrow's use of point of view and his stark honesty.

[Farmington] is a book insidiously iconoclastic. Under the innocent guise of telling as much of the truth about his boyhood's real feelings as he dares, Mr. Darrow sets about undermining a number of cherished notions and traditional beliefs. As Mr. Shaw says, he "spoils the attitude" of the orthodox writers about childhood, insisting (in all love and tenderness) on the tragedy of the attempt of parents to mold the life of their offspring, to instill virtue into them by precept, to make them pore over books when all the bounding life of youth calls for out-of-doors and play. In the manner of the telling, and in the...
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