Oscar Firkins was profoundly interested in both literature and the theater. For two years he wrote estimates of current plays for the Weekly Review. He also served as poetry reviewer for the Nation, and contributed to the Yale Review, Atlantic Monthly, Saturday Review of Literature, and many other periodicals. Because of his outstanding ability he was given the singular honor of election to the National Academy of Arts and Letters before he had published a single book. His distinguished biographies of Jane Austen, Howells, and Emerson were produced while he was head of the department of comparative literature at the University of Minnesota. “The ablest critic in America,” said noted English playwright, Henry Arthur Jones.