 In these articles Paperna, influenced probably by the Russian critic Dmitry Pisarev, adopted modern realistic methods of criticism.He exposed the worthlessness of pseudo-classicism in Hebrew literature, and the absurdity of the "guess-philology" in the commentaries on the Torah and the Talmud.He also ridiculed the presumption of some of the young "Maskilim", who from a desire for fame attempted to write books in Hebrew on botany, astronomy, and the other exact sciences, with which they were entirely unfamiliar.