There's another factor which the article misses: being a great critic isn't at all the same as being a correct critic. Great critics take risks, flirt with cont

There's another factor which the article misses: being a great critic isn't at all the same as being a correct critic. Great critics take risks, flirt with contrarianism, point out flaws that other observers miss or gloss over. Not only are they not "neutral"--no one can really look at art neutrally, anyway--but they are particularly likely to take eccentric views. A negative view of a well-regarded classic can do a lot more to spark the imagination, to make the work exciting, than a boring list of the work's obvious virtues.