“We realize how very close Floyd Dell has got to the heart and ideals of America in this portrayal of the family glorifying of Felix’s education.” D. L. M.
+ Boston Transcript p11 D 1 ’20 1000w
“‘Moon-calf,’ as it stands, has the importance of showing how serious and how well-composed an American novel can be without losing caste. It is an effective compromise, in manner between the school of observation and the school of technique.” E. P.
+ Dial 70:106 Ja ’21 90w
“Mr Dell’s first novel, in short, shows us that a well-equipped intelligence and a new perception have been brought to bear on the particular instance of the sensitive soul, the particular instance that lies at the heart of all our questioning, and that the endless circle of sensitive souls and terrifying American towns is broken at last.” Lucian Cary
+ Freeman 2:403 Ja 5 ’21 500w
“Any lover of fine fiction must rejoice in the surfaces of Floyd Dell’s first novel much as a cabinet-maker does when he rubs his fingers along a planed board or an old gardener when he turns a cool, firm, ruddy apple over and over in his hand. The style of ‘Moon-calf’ will arouse despair in the discerning. Colloquial and flexible, it is also dignified as only a natural simplicity can make it.” C. V. D.
+ Nation 111:sup670 D 8 ’20 580w
“One must have a good deal of fluid romanticism to be able to revel in Felix Fay. In his struggle toward reality there is a good deal of vivid and sympathetic narrative, and one feels that his plight as an imaginative youth is honestly understood. But is it generous or engaging imagination? And is it associated with intelligence? The subsequent development of Felix Fay may say yes, but so far he is mainly an exactingly hungry and under-fed literary ego.” F. H.
+ − New Repub 25:49 D 8 ’20 1250w