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The Bright Book of Life

Novels to Read and Reread

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The Bright Book of Life

By: Harold Bloom
Narrated by: Stephen Mendel
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About this listen

America's most original and controversial literary critic writes trenchantly about 48 masterworks spanning the Western tradition — from Don Quixote to Wuthering Heights to Invisible Man — in his first book devoted exclusively to narrative fiction.

In this valedictory volume, Yale professor Harold Bloom — who for more than half a century was regarded as America's most daringly original and controversial literary critic — gives us his only book devoted entirely to the art of the novel. With his hallmark percipience, remarkable scholarship, and extraordinary devotion to sublimity, Bloom offers meditations on 48 essential works spanning the Western canon, from Don Quixote to Book of Numbers; from Wuthering Heights to Absalom, Absalom!; from Les Misérables to Blood Meridian; from Vanity Fair to Invisible Man. Here are trenchant appreciations of fiction by, among many others, Austen, Balzac, Dickens, Tolstoy, James, Conrad, Lawrence, Le Guin, and Sebald.

Whether you have already listened to these books, plan to, or simply care about the importance and power of fiction, Harold Bloom is your unparalleled guide to understanding literature with new intimacy.

©2020 Harold Bloom (P)2020 Random House Audio Literary History & Criticism

Critic Reviews

"Fresh insights and renewed joys... fervent... dedicated... [Bloom] candidly analyzes what he considers a novel’s shortcomings and where he differs with other critics’ assessments. [His] ardent celebration of novels is tinged with the inevitable losses of old age... Warm recollections of a singular literary life." (Kirkus Reviews)

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Brilliant literary analysis

Harold Bloom is the only Literary Analyst I’ve ever really paid attention to. His insights always chime with me, and I find myself leaning into his work.

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