Why We Read
By: Erik Rittenberry
"You have to create your own space which has a lot of silence in it and a lot of books.”
— Susan Sontag
Harold Bloom, a noted literary critic, professor, and author who died in 2019, was perhaps the most enthusiastic and obsessive reader that we know of in history. At least recent history.
It’s been said that he could read a 400-page book in an hour, and he could recite all of Shakespeare's poetry from memory. Unimaginable. And his intellectual output was also astounding! He wrote more than fifty books and edited hundreds of anthologies, providing a staggering amount of unparalleled literary appreciation.
If we are to ask ourselves why we read, why we seek meaning in the printed lines of other writers, how could Bloom not be a fierce and relentless figure to weigh in on such a matter?
