Description:
A selection of the lively letters between one of the world's greatest literary critics and the poets, novelists, and scholars he most admired
"Terrific from first to last."--Dwight Garner, New York Times Book Review
Bringing together a collection of Harold Bloom's letters to and from eight of his favorite contemporary writers, Heather Cass White provides an intimate view of one of the most famous literary critics of the last century. In correspondence with Alvin Feinman, Northrop Frye, A. R. Ammons, John Hollander, James Merrill, John Ashbery, Henri Cole, and Ursula K. Le Guin, we see Bloom developing his groundbreaking theory of poetic influence, transforming himself into a public intellectual, and reckoning with the meaning of his own legacy.
While Bloom's public persona was oracular, sure, and often combative, his letters are inquiring and provisional, revealing his overarching obsession with good writing. The presence of love, as the letters show, was always vital to how Bloom worked as a reader. Filled with delightful anecdotes and poignant observations, these letters--many of them published here for the first time--offer a new window onto twentieth-century letters and Bloom's long and illustrious career.
Review Quotes: "The Man Who Read Everything is . . . terrific from first to last."--Dwight Garner, New York Times Book Review
"In The Man Who Read Everything, an amiable collection of Bloom's epistolary exchanges--with Alvin Feinman, Northrop Frye, John Hollander, A.R. Ammons, John Ashbery, James Merrill, Henri Cole and Ursula K. Le Guin--he hands out his own laurel wreaths."--James Campbell, Wall Street Journal "In White's eight-chapter volume, we see the inimitable Bloom backstage. . . . Here on full display is the kaleidoscopically sublime Bloom: vulnerable, tender, playful, grave, insecure, irritated, thrilled, enigmatic, sardonic, sympathetic, sorrowful. To read Bloom's literary letters is still to hear the oracular tone and witness the mighty vigor of Bloom, the professional critic."--Gregory Jones-Katz, Foreign Policy "Beyond the concerns of cultural theory and literary history, this short but rich selection of letters between Bloom and eight fellow writers offers much to ponder in the dim wintry light of our times."--Alex Lanz, Los Angeles Review of Books "I could only wish for the book to be several times longer."--Henry Oliver, Common Reader (Substack) "Unlike its subject, [The Man Who Read Everything] is slim and sometimes modest. But its emotional candor, its commitment to literature, and its giant leaps of associative thought distill a taste of the passion that make Bloom, for all his grandiosity and delusions, a good reader and a frequently brilliant communicator of the joys of imagination."--Dominic Green, The Lamp "Fascinating."--Malcolm Forbes, Washington Examiner "With their brilliant insights, Bloom's letters give one the sense that it was a blessing to correspond with him. Thanks to this book, readers now have the chance to feel they have received that blessing."--Shane McCrae, author of New and Collected Hell "Harold Bloom was an original-minded interpreter of an extraordinary range of authors. This fine selection of his letters also shows Bloom in a related role, as an influential confidant and commentator on the poets of his own generation. The Man Who Read Everything will be of major interest to readers of twentieth-century poetry and criticism."--David Bromwich, author of Skeptical Music: Essays on Modern Poetry "This exquisitely edited collection is a powerful, humanizing addition to our understanding of a great critic. You hear so many different tones--playful, loving, grave, self-doubting, angry, ecstatic, mocking, oracular, sympathetic, sorrowful. Throughout there's the pitch and energy of Bloom's thought, his need to praise, banking on feeling above all."--Kenneth Gross, University of Rochester "Here is a cornucopia guaranteed to delight anyone drawn to the infectious sensibility of 'the man who read everything, ' whose ardent love of books still inspires so many. Heather Cass White's edition will be required reading for Bloomians of every stripe."--David Mikics, author of Bellow's People: How Saul Bellow Made Life into Art "Here is Harold Bloom as we knew him and as we did not: as the elevated spirit who would be a poet but could not, so instead became a poem in himself. The dazzling first and last and never-again Harold Bloom."--Cynthia Ozick, author of In a Yellow Wood: Collected Stories and Essays