Harold Bloom on Harry Potter and Stephen King

Interview from 2003

[@Gorboduc]

He even drinks coffee with contempt.

[@dububro]

With contempt, perhaps, but never with an ounce of resentment.

[@MaximTendu]

@@dububro catch my thumbsup.

[@richardwestwood8212]

I just like to listen to this man for ages

[@jimnewcombe7584]

As do I.

[@judohondaboiii]

Nah it's just ol'age. My professors, grandparents, and neighbour, drink their coffee like that! They get shaky at that age. Think their muscles; don't connect with da brain sonwell

[@BigDaddyZakk420]

I’d love to see what Bloom would have to say about these adult “booktubers” whose “top ten of the decade!!!” Lists are comprised almost entirely of young adult novels whose prose doesn’t exceed double syllables. Always amazes me when I see that kind of thing.

[@kamlaahmad3529]

You're right. I absolutely feel embarrassed yet baffled seeing people in their late 20s naming Harry Potter as their favorite book when they have an entire bookcase behind them to choose from. God only knows what the other books are 🙂!

[@S00thsayer4]

I love your name

[@shielinglai1599]

He passed awag, but I'm pretty sure he'll be highly dismissive towards them. I won't blame him though, most of them are really *bad* in book recommendations and reviews.

[@serban8298]

@@kamlaahmad3529 Harry Potter is among my favourite novel despite reading Dostoievski, Tolstoi, Dickens etc.

[@serban8298]

You're just worthless snob who doesn't understand the evolution of literature!

[@ubermensch826]

i like how this means harold bloom has actually read harry potter though

[@ripkhanna]

Nope

[@s.bakyhnh1756]

He read HP and the Philosopher's Stone

[@ripkhanna]

@@s.bakyhnh1756 Interesting

[@royalmitchell4905]

What the fuck does the mean

[@royalmitchell4905]

He has to read a text in order to critique it asshole

[@richardlong5928]

The Brothers Karamazov is my favorite novel. Moby Dick is my favorite American novel. Wallace Stevens is my favorite poet. And reading all seven Harry Potter books within two months while I was a sophomore studying philosophy was my favorite two months of college.

[@jordananderson3543]

Talent is talent, you know? If something is good it's good, whether it's "Macbeth" or "The Hobbit." There was probably a time when films were seen as "low culture," and now people write doctoral theses about Alfred Hitchcock. Is JK Rowling a Flaubert-esque prose stylist? Not really... is she a talented writer though? Of course. It's sad to me that Bloom can't separate the two.

[@KitchenSinkSoup]

@@hallucinatingsiren Imagine enjoying a book, must be awful

[@jpan7071]

I’ll never forget the look of wonder in my son’s eyes as I read aloud Harry Potter. He sat next to me at a Barnes & Noble back in the day. My son went on to read the whole series on his own. Twice. Then he went to read many other books, including some mentioned by this gentleman. He certainly read extensively during his AP English classes. But the spark for the love of reading began that Saturday at Barnes & Noble.

[@jpan7071]

@@hallucinatingsirenthese days quarter pounders make me sick-literally. Harry Potter just brings pleasant memories. And I think this gentleman is wrong; Harry Potter will live on for generations, long after his words and this interview, which will end up in some repository of snobbery. As for Stephen King-he’s already a living legend. A multi-generational talent. His books already cemented as classics. And what is even more amazing-he’s currently producing some of his best work. The man is seventy-seven years old.

[@richardlong5928]

@@jpan7071 🥹🥹🥹

[@2530negri]

Thought he’d spit out the coffee and say it’s crap, like that scene in Mulholland Drive

[@rad4924]

Haha me too

[@ashtheviking5007]

As a young man my nan started me off, simply enough, with Finnegans wake and Hamlet. I eventually discovered Harry Potter and the golden compass series. That's growth.

[@warlockofwordschannel7901]

Giving a child Finnegan's Wake is a form of psychological warfare in some societies

[@astralandreid]

Dude 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂​@@warlockofwordschannel7901

[@futurez12]

OMG that last sentence was savage. 😂

[@ripkhanna]

?

[@antonandraslindamoodwhite5407]

@@ripkhanna I think he means SK fails to understand the implication of his own estimation of himself in relation to Rowling, if that makes sense?

[@herrklamm1454]

@@antonandraslindamoodwhite5407 I don’t agree.

[@ishmaelhope2482]

Yeah, I got a nice chuckle out of that. "Graduate to reading Steven King." Lol

[@okyouknowwhatever]

The whole build up and execution of that burn was really beautiful.

[@TheVCRTimeMachine]

I love Harold Bloom, but once in a while, after a healthy dose of Dostoevsky or Cervantes, or Homer, I feel the need to sit down and read something like "The Shining" Enjoying a little mind candy is fine. It doesn't mean you've betrayed the Western Canon.

[@dylanbaker122]

Yeah there’s no harm in pop or genre lit if it’s consumed in moderation and doesn’t represent the entirety of a persons reading achivements.

[@mabusestestament]

True, as long as you don't read the Harry Potter books.

[@Walter-Anderson]

I don't think that he believed that enjoying some "mind candy" was inherently bad. Bloom did have a real problem with the contemporary habit of placing lesser fictions in the same company of better fiction.

[@gondolaskskskks570]

True but Cervantes and Dosto shouldn't really take much effort to read though.

[@geluz4430]

Being a literary elitist, now thats a mind candy.

[@lucasgdrezes]

I actually moved on from Harry Potter to Alice in the wonderland, then Nabokov, Mishima...

[@AngrySkipperGC]

I also went from HP to Alice in wonderland. I felt like Alice in wonderland was the equivalent of taking heaps of acid then writing book about your experience.

[@royalmitchell4905]

No you didn't

[@giorgiorosa4402]

Exactly! I don't mind Bloom as a character, his women hating tendencies aside, but his prognostications on things that he knew nothing about like children's development show him to be a fool in many respects. I mean honestly, did he want children to read so that they would wind up as potential sexual abuse victims in his seminars at Yale?

[@AscentofTrollbane]

Ah you moved from Harry Potter to being a pedophile. That tracks.

[@WillJL20]

@@royalmitchell4905I did but there’s a gap of around ten years between those two things. Harry Potter isn’t a springboard to anything great, it’s just the process of growing up that will allow you to move on to better books.

[@fordprefect80]

Wow, I wonder what he would have thought of the Warhammer 40K books?

[@steveclark3032]

He actually spent his latter years writing Warhammer fan fiction

[@Ptaku93]

@@steveclark3032 say whaaat

[@ProfessorRedonk]

I love Harold Bloom for his ability to piss people off for reading shitty books

[@serban8298]

You're all dumbasses that haven't even read the books you're criticising!

[@breeeegs]

Which of King's novels did he actually read though? His snarky comment about King is based on a statement from him that I couldn't even find. Also, he criticized the Potter books for using "cliches" like "stretched his legs" multiple times, but it turns out that phrase was only used in the first book literally one time.

[@windandcloudshadow158]

Who's Harold Bloom again? O that's right the guy who will be forgotten 8).

[@Strong_Opinions]

@@windandcloudshadow158 I won’t forget him and so will many ppl all over the world both in serious literary academic circles and passionate individuals who love literature like myself. Jk Rowling and Stephen King are only talked about today out of shallow nostalgia and movie reboots; they were merely penny novelist who got lucky. True culture always out last pop culture or as Nabokov called it: Poshlust.

[@windandcloudshadow158]

@@Strong_Opinions What? Bloom won't be remembered lol he bashes things yet will be forgotten, King will always be remembered perks of being the king of horror 8) even if I don't believe that he's not even my favorite writer ask anyone who he is they will know. Ill give you JK Rowling because she's had only one successful book series while King has multiple best selling novels and numerus awards, Bloom is smart but let's not act like anyone knows his name as much as King's intellectual or not.

[@riteshtimalapur7592]

I think in this day and age, if a person reads at all, that itself is a miracle. A Harry Potter or a Stephen King book might be just what someone needs right now.

[@undersatan5685]

No it isn't. Seriously, it isn't.

[@theBizzaroWorld]

​@@undersatan5685 you're wrong and your cynicism is stifling. Reading is on such a cataclysmic decline and if you don't grow up in a house that reads I pray to the heavens that you find just about any piece of fiction you can get your hands on.

[@undersatan5685]

@@theBizzaroWorld The decline of reading is due to books like Harry Potter. Stop defending shit.

[@theBizzaroWorld]

​@@undersatan5685 ya it has nothing to do with the disparity in wealth over the last 50 years. My poor reading habits when I was young had absolutely nothing to do with a dangerous uneducated household. I don't even read Potter or King but if not for commercial literature I never would have even learned about the "important" authors.

[@MichaelSheffield-ox8yd]

@@theBizzaroWorld Yeah, we need more income redistribution. That would turn thugs from breeders to readers. I am reading from nine books at present. I grew up dirt poor. I made a life for myself using self-discipline.

[@SidLaw1manband]

It's OK to read for whatever reason.

[@arthurdoktor]

In my experience, the people who I study with at uni who like to read the classics (I study physics, so not all my fellow students love reading the classics) all adore Harry Potter, and say it was the book that got them into reading in the first place. We all have different tastes in books, I like War and Peace or Moby Dick a great deal more than Pride and Prejudice, but I don't go around insulting everyone reading Jane Austen for that reason. It's fine Harold Bloom didn't like Harry Potter, but I think he is quite wrong to say the children who read it will all grow up never reading the classics.

[@serban8298]

He is wrong!I started with Harry Potter too!Now I read books from all genres, classics and contemporary alike!

[@richardlong5928]

He’s never been more wrong in his life. Such joylessness

[@Sobsilus]

He is a critic. His point was never that you can't enjoy it. But Rowling got so much praise from the mainstream reviewers who are just there to praise whatever is selling right now to push sale numbers even more. His critique regards the quality and in this regard he is absolutely right. There are a lot of other accomplished fantasy authors who have criticised the poor literary quality of the series. As someone down here said "young adult novels whose prose doesn’t exceed double syllables". There is another interview of Bloom where he said: "I think that’s not reading. There is nothing there to be read. It’s just an endless string of clicheés. I cannot think that does anyone any good. People tell me ‘At least my child is reading’ to which my answer is ‘No, the child isn’t reading’. It’s not really childrens’ literature, it’s just slop." But you can't deny that many people like being served slop and are totally fine with it. Just don't go around then and tell people you're eating some gourmet level stuff. That's all.

[@JTM1809]

I understand not everyone is a fan of the man, but his closing bit is just brilliant.

[@dustywaxhead]

The Harry Potter to Stephen King pipeline 🤣

[@magicaltour1]

I graduated from Harry Potter to Sir Terry Pratchett, so I guess that’s a plus.

[@Sobsilus]

@@magicaltour1 Unfair comparison to Steven King because of the different genres and styles, but that is an admirable step forward. I like to compare Harry Potter to "taking care of yourself" when your body starts to develop. It's so many genre clicheés that it is a fair introduction to fantasy, but it is sloppy, lazy, bland, and not worth a re-read. All the great fantasy franchises are then the partners we have later on. Much more experienced, there is moral depth and character growth, and they actually know what the fuck they are doing. 😉

[@libraryofthemind]

I grew up with a strict Nanna who took back my Harry Potter book because it said witchcraft on the back. Instead, I was allowed to get a Goosebumps book. I don't know how Goosebumps is any more Christian? However, I enjoyed those Goosebump stories as you got to choose which path to take in the story. I didn't get help reading much as a kid. However, when I was a teenager I began to read the Bible myself quite religiously. Because I only really had read the Bible I started to write like that also. Only later in life did I begin to read some classics and now I love them. After reading Nietzsche I also picked up some of his style when I write sometimes. I think although Harold Bloom was a bit of a snob, he still has a valid point deep down - reading the best that history has to offer creates in the reader an edifice to produce a similar quality of mind and works.

[@davida.rosales6025]

Your Nanna literally saved your brain from a huge waste of time and energy.

[@rishwiz9]

Your Nana though ultimately right was a bit silly to think a pulpy children’s escapism could have anything to do with immoral codes and real witchcraft. JK Rowling is no Alaistar Crawley. On the contrary the arc and structure of HP borrows heavily from the Bible.

[@serban8298]

@@rishwiz9 This one of the dumbest and old fashioned comments I've ever read!Her granny was right to gatekeep a book?What is wrong with you, people?

[@rishwiz9]

@@serban8298 I don’t think you can comprehend English or you have taken some drugs. Clearly failing to understand what seems to be written and then projecting your cheap opinions on it. Wipe your tears and get a reality check, Harry Potter was a book loaded with unexecuted philosophical ideas meant to tantalise people of a certain age and build a fan base. It clearly worked, as adults like you are still wandering around feeling nostalgic and sacred about a piece of work by mixing your own childhood experiences with a piece of young adult fiction. Grow up, there are other things to read and watch. Whining little child. And change your diapers you silly sod.

[@serban8298]

@@rishwiz9 You don't even know who you're talking to!I've read and I'm reading plenty of books both classic and contemporary, both acadamemic and for entertainment and Harry Potter is definetly worthy of all its praise and you will never understand why if you don't open your mind for more!

[@ferencfehervari3354]

I was a philosopy major in undergrad because I love to read. I dont think this would have been the case had it not been for my love of Harry Potter.

[@SoimulPatriei]

People tend to read what interests them, rather than what Harold Bloom or others recommend. It's great that he created anthologies, but thankfully, we live in a free society where everyone can choose for themselves.

[@clacclackerson3678]

Of course the Harry Potter books will be forgotten. So will the Harold Bloom books. And so will Harold Bloom, along with you and me. I find this comforting.

[@TheParadoxDestroyer]

In the future, Harold Bloom will continue to be read in academic circles as he is now because of his influence on writing and it's history. Also, there were will be a niche where Harry Potter will live on. However, certainly not at the level of popularity as now. Jane Austin will still be read as will Mary Shelley, Yeats, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Rilke, the great Russians, etc, because they had something enduring to say about humanity. Harry Potter is YA pulp.

[@clacclackerson3678]

@ All those authors will be forgotten, along with Plato, Buddha and Jesus.

[@TheParadoxDestroyer]

@clacclackerson3678 You're such a comediene.

[@hectortorres9316]

Reminds me of Roberto Bolaño and the stupid need of an author to reach inmortality

[@criert135]

⁠​⁠@@TheParadoxDestroyerHarry Potter will have a much, much larger lasting legacy than Harold Bloom. Your lack of appreciation for Harry Potter won’t change that.

[@imnotgoodwithnamesbruh6018]

This interview is about 22 years old, it was a generation ago give-or-take. Harry Potter is still going strong, not in the dustbins at all.

[@bk2524]

I have three bookshelves dedicated to Harold Bloom. His works, his Canon, his commentary, his works as editor. I also read and enjoyed Harry Potter. Even when he shames me I adore him and his literary brass balls

[@paulleverton9569]

You enjoyed Harry Potter. Bloom detests everything about you. It's that simple.

[@loganperry5167]

I think he has one novel,too.Have You read that?

[@criert135]

@@paulleverton9569Bloom is just ignorant. He hasn’t even read Harry Potter so his opinion on those books is worthless/uninformed.

[@c1v1lwar24]

This man doesn’t know nothing. There’s a Harry Potter Lego set that’s a big purple bus.

[@LEONCOLEMAN-f3f]

If reading makes you a better person then it hasn't helped Bloom much.

[@russhouldin5774]

He poses a serious question, one that stems from his palpable love of literature: what will kids read next, after Harry Potter? I would have thought that there's some research on that. I'm watching the development of my own beloved grandchildren right now and we'll see. It also causes me to reflect on my own reading. I recall Anthony Buckeridge, GO Henty, Enid Blyton, Frank Richards before moving on to RL Stevenson, Kenneth Graham, Lewis Carroll and Mark Twain and then the wide world of the "canon". It's not obvious to me that JK Rowling is that different from Buckeridge et al.

[@rodrigosebastianpagano8198]

Terry Pratchett. The answer is Terry Pratchett. First the YA books and then the more adult work.

[@jarrodsio]

Many of my friends at both Oxford and Cambridge are avid HP fans. In fact, HP is the very reason they chose to go to these unis in the first place.

[@paulhaynes561]

This man is a man - that’s what makes him great - says what he thinks and could care less what people thought about him - RIP brother Bloom.

[@jcdenton616]

Is that really what makes a man? Stating one's opinion with disregard for others? That's a rather pathetic standard to hold.

[@Sherlika_Gregori]

Bloom , it appears, is very partial to Shakespeare.

[@herrklamm1454]

And rightly so.

[@MahmoudIsmail1988.]

As should we all

[@sammy-n5d5g]

Gee, you think?

[@greatcoldemptiness]

@@MahmoudIsmail1988.Tolstoy wasn’t and he’s the greatest novelist of all time

[@jameswatrous4399]

Harold Bloom was a great literary critic. What I've read of SHAKESPEARE: THE INVENTION OF THE HUMAN, I really like. I need to read the whole thing someday. I have to admit it's fun to read HARRY POTTER and Stephen King. Yes, J.K. Rowling and Stephen King are not anywhere near the greatness of Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, Austin, or Dickens, but they are good at a certain level.

[@alejandroalvarez9971]

Dickens or Hemingway are nowhere near good writers

[@paimei2339]

@@alejandroalvarez9971 They are not good, they are great.

[@thecrypticmelon]

This is a threat. Wait till my father hears about this

[@hurricanefrid]

If he does, then I'll be takin a leaf outta Professor Moody's book. I hear you make a good ferret, Utsab.

[@astralandreid]

I learned to read when I was 4 and the first book I ever read was The Philosopher's Stone when I was 5 or 6. Harry Potter introduced me to the world of books and reading. I now read Dostoevski, Tolstoi, Kant, Nietzsche, Hesse, Faulkner, Steinbeck, Proust... I could go on and on. The point is that Harry Potter is a great entry point for children and young teens, same with Stephen King. Retrospectively I do believe Harry Potter books are not really that great within the literary realm, but it will always be the portal that led me into reading and even studying classical literature in university for a couple of years. However, I do believe the important thing is that as you grow older and keep discovering new things, you develop the skill and intuition of recognising and discerning good books from bad books, based on prose, style, story, content, pacing, etc.

[@JohnReilly-wm4sl]

Any reading is good, it builds the reading habit and that opens everything.

[@DanielWhite-v4e]

scared to disagree

[@brendanfinan3257]

>a-at least the books were good though "No!" The writing is dreadful; the book was terrible. As I read, I noticed that every time a character went for a walk, the author wrote instead that the character "stretched his legs." I began marking on the back of an envelope every time that phrase was repeated. I stopped only after I had marked the envelope several dozen times. I was incredulous. Rowling's mind is so governed by cliches and dead metaphors that she has no other style of writing. Later I read a lavish, loving review of Harry Potter by the same Stephen King. He wrote something to the effect of, "If these kids are reading Harry Potter at 11 or 12, then when they get older they will go on to read Stephen King." And he was quite right. He was not being ironic. When you read "Harry Potter" you are, in fact, trained to read Stephen King.

[@ripkhanna]

Tf.

[@ripkhanna]

No. STFU

[@hipsterelephant2660]

Its a copypasta you dumb fuck

[@10MILLIONcreeperplushies]

Im so confused, what just happened

[@serban8298]

And there is nothing wrong with that!Stephen King is a genius!

[@Reptilia222]

I went on to Blood Meridian big guy, not long after...

[@Walter-Anderson]

Sure you did.

[@Reptilia222]

@@Walter-Anderson I like that name, WALTER! kzbin.info/www/bejne/iYqQeZWpjtCHqpo

[@kevinriley2261]

That would have made Bloom happy.

[@robharrell-xd2pi]

Thank you. Thought I was the only one who was willing to express such sentiment regarding Harry Port-a-potty.

[@wesleydraves1281]

I read Harry Potter at twelve, then went onto Tolkien, then to King, Finally after hearing it was one of Stephen King’s favorites I read the masterpiece of modern fiction that is Blood Meridian

[@bruno_schumann]

Make Bloom proud and now start with Pynchon 👍

[@bernabefernandeztouceda7315]

​@@bruno_schumannpynchon is ass, what a waste of time

[@nobbynoris]

Blood Meridian: AKA Harry Potter And The Thieving Bastard Europeans.

[@kasianfranmitja5298]

Does anyone know what bloom thought of Tolkien?

[@marekjob8714]

Here is a quote from his introduction to a book on Tolkien that he edited: "But there is still the burden of Tolkien's style: stiff, false archaic, overwrought, and finally a real hindrance in Volume III, The Return of the King, which I have had trouble rereading. At seventy-seven, I may just be too old, but here is The Return of the King, opened pretty random: [random quote from Tolkien's book] I am not able to understand how a skilled and mature reader can absorb about fifteen hundred pages of this quaint stuff. [...] Sometimes, reading Tolkien, I am reminded of the Book of Mormon. Tolkien met a need, particulary in the early days of the counterculture in the later 1960s. Whether he is an author for the duration of the twenty-first century seems to me open to some doubt"

[@kasianfranmitja5298]

I dont know what this is but do you think bloom likes him or not? He begins with saying ”but”. Does that indicate that he still like some Things of it? Interested in hearing.

[@fabiancalderon6729]

@@kasianfranmitja5298 dumbass

[@shielinglai1599]

He admires The Hobbit but questioned the popularity and quality of Lord of The Rings. Bloom thought LoTR possessed a style too old to be considered a modern book.

[@kasianfranmitja5298]

@@fabiancalderon6729 excuse me? What have i Said to receive this?

[@arekkrolak6320]

I have no idea who this guy is but I read Harry Potter and it was pretty cool :)

[@seanwebb605]

He was a key literacy scholar and critic in his time.

[@kanhaibhatt913]

​​@@seanwebb605the ones who cant do, criticize.

[@seanwebb605]

@@kanhaibhatt913 Nonsense.

[@zeigbert1743]

It took the equivalent of a popcorn movie in book form to get me into reading.

[@TH3F4LC0Nx]

I have never felt such conflicting emotions towards another person as I do towards Bloom. He is elitist to the core, but he also held the line against revisionists and the "School of Resentment", which was/is important. And I also just gotta respect anybody who displays the level of savagery that he did with that parting line! XD

[@pouetpouetdaddy5]

I don't think he was elitist, he was more a demanding man, not thinking people was too stupid to read classic but just lazy. He knew what was great, good or bad..and didn't think, like our era, that everything was relative. And he was crazy right about the school of resentement who took the media control...it pays well being a victim

[@rishwiz9]

On the contrary…..he was no elitist. Reading books like Harry Potter is like watching the same old sitcom with the same wooden characters and the same gags that are stretched to a point that even the plot that unfolds is formulaic. It does nothing to open your mind and make you think. Long story short, it’s pulpy escapism.

[@serban8298]

@@rishwiz9 You are dead wrong too!Harry Potter has a lot of substance actually, but just like all snobby fools here, you will never understand!

[@cringyboring]

@@rishwiz9 "he was no elitist." >Goes onto say what elitists have always said about Harry Potter.

[@rishwiz9]

@@cringyboring Yeah as a kid you think this is the best thing ever…..this whole world building et al. But if you are a 60 year old who has studied literature extensively you will feel like it’s a bit cliched and silly. Though I don’t agree about the thing that children should not be made to read it and it should be thrown.

[@eflat6522]

I see where Bloom is coming from. It’s like after seeing Beach Blanket Bingo as a kid I could not possibly appreciate Schindler’s List as an adult. I also read a Hardy Boys novel as a kid and can’t possibly read Bleak House now. Bloom is so insightful.

[@CesarClouds]

Read his Western Canon when I was 20 or 21, it was a great solace that validated my own solitary reading.

[@shettywap]

The harry potter or stephen king books have little to do with our decline in reading. Harold Bloom lacks the forethought of the internet, and its pervasive nature in our cultural landscape. There have always been time periods where someone who is now respected, or considered high literature, was thought of as nothing more than an "also ran." Mark Twain could at some point become out of fashion. The same for hemingway, or any other famous author for that matter. The issue is not that there is a lack of dense material, but that people arent reading at all. Im curious if by the time we reached his death in 2019, his opinion changed at all. Instead of "look at this drivel theyre all reading" to "My God, theyre not reading anything at all." The latter is infiinitely scarier than the former. Perhaps being so snooty about harry potter and stephen king offers nothing of value to get people reading or continually reading. Ah, the life of a critic. Man, conversations from generations of yore get tiring. Ive heard this about rap, the level of rnb singing, movies, etc. At this point it seems like everyone is destined to become a crotchety nostalgia fiend.

[@geoffreynhill2833]

Harry's adventures are a a list of events. 😵‍💫

[@rishwiz9]

I would like to know how many here think HP books will end up being obscure in the years to come.

[@magicaltour1]

Given the way the authoress has been going, it looks likely. She’s alienated her audience, and has essentially poisoned the IP to the point that WB is trying to buy her out.

[@DisposableSupervillainHenchman]

@@magicaltour1How has Rowling alienated her audience?

[@welltailored0076]

For those of you missing the point, Bloom is saying that Rowling and King represent the literary heights of the 21st century; so, if that's the case, humanity owes itself an explanation. As in, how is it at the turn of the 20th century the list of authors was phenomenally titanic - Hardy, Wells, Stevenson, Lovecraft, Woolf, Hemingway, Wilde, Joyce, Twain, Doyle, Tolstoy, and so on; but now, a century later, the list of authors is uttetly pathetic - King, Rowling, Meyer, Collins, James, Harris. 1. The only thing Harry Potter prepared you for was Twilight, which prepared you for Hunger Games, which prepared you for 50 Shades of Grey. 2. If you did put down Harry Potter to read something more literary, why was it for a book from over a half century ago; why is the literary landscape so bankrupt now when the fortunes have gone unspent?

[@g.craigpowell2616]

It's partly because the publishing industry is promoting a certain kind of 'woke' literature. Books are no longer chosen for their quality, even in the so-called 'literary' world, but for their ideological correctness - they must promote 'diversity' and sympathise with victimised minorities, basically - and/or for the profiles of the authors, who need to be good-looking, ideally, young, and belong to cool minorities themselves. Some such authors (Zadie Smith, Chimamanda, for instance) are talented. But many not. I don't think we're seeing the best of what's being written.

[@welltailored0076]

@@ryanmckenzie1990 could you clarify if I should be crucifying tolkien for the hyperheroism found in the fantasy saga at the latter part of siglo XX and Murakami for the onanism that is Japanese isoliterature [isolation literature]??

[@_____......_____]

That's why today successful book called as best selling books bcuz it sells not that how you & I or academic sees it how aesthetic it is .

[@mr.skyscraper6452]

This was filmed in 2003...

[@matthewbishop8395]

I get that he means they srent yop quality literature and I agree with that. However hat doesnt mean they arent book you can enjoy. He acts likebifnits jot high srt than its pointless reading it when that's not true . I do think high art should be over looked for popular stuff but what it comes down to is you read what you want to read. Yes theres better stuff than potter and king jo question but no cunt is going to make me feel bad for what I'm reading.

[@TejasM14]

People like this sadly are no longer the shining light of society. Great works of art provide solace, healing and comfort for those trying to make it through the turbulent winds of life. They allow us to perceive and be understood better. They forever transform us. I have no problem with people reading Harry Potter, anymore than I have problem with people reading flyers strewn in a a subway. However, I hope that people come to understand that there are works of art that merit their exalted status. The purpose of Dostoevsky is not for you to name drop at a dinner party. The point is for you to engage with his works, which will likely forever change the way you see yourself and the world around you. The point is for you to engage with your conscience, which superficial works of creative endeavors don't get you to do. But as someone has once said, it is a losing battle. It is like getting a blind person to see colors.

[@serban8298]

By saying this, you assume that people who like J.K. Rowling don't like Dostoiesvki!I love both!

[@carmensavu5122]

@@serban8298 I don't like Dostoievski, but then again I rarely like books that are not science-fiction or fantasy. I love Harry Potter, but not JK Rowling. It's a beautiful world and a great story, but the prose itself isn't the best.

[@criert135]

The Harry Potter series is without doubt a work of art and one that is beloved by millions. That is a fact, despite your snobbery or the snobbery of Bloom (who hasn’t even read Harry Potter and so who can offer nothing more than an ignorant/uninformed opinion on the subject).

[@deksteri1813]

As it happens, tastes change even if we are not constantly trying to develop them. Much like people who start dating at the age of 13 do not necessarily go downhill from there just because they started dating silly adolescent egoists. Personally, I read the Potter books quite diligently during my primary school years-just the ticket for my young self, even if these days I don't care for them anymore-and nowadays I'm entirely devoted to many of the books that Bloom himself championed. Between my juvenile and my current reading, there was also a gap when I barely read at all - and that was hardly a damaging thing in the long run. But as we know, in the world of possibilities, many bugbears dwell.

[@SocialSchoolforWitchesWizards]

Obviously I am a fan of the potter series. This criticism of Harold's is wholly justified. The kids who are reading the books now essentially have it engrained in their head what HP is supposed to be through the eyes of their parents. I believe this correlates more to what Bloom is saying here. Instead of children reading the books and continuing to higher reading they become simple fanatics of 1 book series.

[@davidw.2791]

It’s funny how HP is “not overtly deep” but lots of people still can’t get all its (limited) depth. Case in point: Thousands of people read the books and watch the movies, and then say Prisoner Of Azkaban (#3 in the series) is the best HP movie despite its abysmal adaptation castrating what lifeforce Jo did breathe into her plot.

[@seanwebb605]

Harry Potter is more about fandom than literature. And now the same people who applauded the books are canceling the author.

[@criert135]

Harry Potter is a great book series regardless of age. It can be enjoyed by adults and has fantastic character writing.

[@seanwebb605]

@@criert135 Ha ha ha ha ha ha.

[@criert135]

@@seanwebb605 Wow, you’re such an intellect. Make sure to massage that big brain of yours.

[@LeoWhalen1933]

People read Harry Potter because it is a fun story. People read King because they want to be thrilled. If someone wants to become a writer, than of course they should take those authors for what they are. HB seems to forget that most people are not bibliophiles obsessing about prose.

[@katlamb4606]

As a former Wattpad fangirl and a current classics and literary fiction enthusiast, I can say that some of us just need to be sold on the joy of reading and even silly fanfics can be the path to a life long committment to reading. I get where Harold is coming from but snobbery ain't gonna help anybody be a reader.

[@TheChessPlayer1956]

I have never read a Harold Bloom book. I have voraciously read Stephan King and J.K. Rowling. I think their work will stand the test of time. I sure hope so. They're unpretentious great people.

[@sammy-n5d5g]

Nope, they won't. Bloom will

[@damarcuscolfer1485]

He thought HP would be over in a generation 😅 Shows how insightful he was.

[@jackkelly1572]

Yes he underestimated the amount of morons around

[@Ryan-Petre]

​@@jackkelly1572 Bitterness will ruin you.

[@greyeyed123]

The problem with all the names he dropped is that they were all considered "rubbish" by the older generations of their times. It was only over time where people who enjoyed those books as children grew up, passed them on, etc., that now they are considered great.

[@darbyheavey406]

Harold Bloom is not an easy read but a fascinating writer.

[@danielbetancourt1483]

That is exactly how I started reading. Harry Potter at 11. Stephen King at 12.

[@SrGoldenCat]

Know no one who became a writer because of Bloom's books, but some people who did it thanks to Stephen King's and Harry Potter ones

[@zyxnix]

Brutal parting quip.

[@timmancillas8326]

I love Harold Bloom.

[@dangin8811]

lol that ending was perfect.

[@pgfinna]

The shade tho

[@thugnomics123]

Stephen king was right. Literary critics can't write worth a shit. Nobody embodies that more than Bloom. That 90 year old who can't stop screaming "back in the old days" about 100 times a day, even when there is no one to listen. The man had brilliant takes on Shakespeare and classic literature. I love those myself. Always have. But the snobbery he shows everytime he talks about modern literature has always rubbed me the wrong way. So what? So what if people only enjoy the Potter books or Stephen king or even Danielle Steele? They enjoy reading don't they? What is wrong with reading for pleasure? Much as I hate using the word "elitist", Bloom is one of the biggest ones. A man made too bitter by his own inability to write a book worth reading.

[@Walter-Anderson]

I've always found Bloom to be an enjoyable writer. Whatever his faults I always have found his critiques engaging. You are deeply confused if you believing the pleasures of reading are relegated to pop culture. You are as confused in equating "modern literature" with popular culture fiction of King and Steele. In the end King is no Tom Stoppard, and, Steele no Jamaica Kincaid.

[@windandcloudshadow158]

He thinks something has to be long winded and overly dramatic to be considered true literature, which is absurd.

[@serban8298]

@@Walter-Anderson No, he is Stephen King and he is amazing!

[@Strong_Opinions]

I been reading Cervantes , Homer and Russian Literature for years, all of which have brought me enormous pleasure. You have to apply more effort than genre fiction of course, but finally understanding their aesthetic value and distinguished merits brings enormous pleasure. You’re deeply confused if you think we only read literature because it tickles our intellectual ego. It’s not snobbery. You sound like a person who never matured their taste buds to bitter foods or drinks like coffee and has to pour sugar and cream on everything to make it palatable.

[@serban8298]

@@Strong_Opinions Yes, it is just pure intellectual snobbery of the most disgusting kind!I read classics and genre books as well!All of them have good and bad books!Classics have Gulliver's Travels by that moron called Swift and Red and Black by Stendhal, a book with a plot worthy of a turkish soap opera!As for the genre books, we can mention most romantic novels that are indeed trash!Also, Cervantes is not that great an author!I understand that Don Quijote has its meaning, but we're still talking about a satire!

[@chrisd8760]

I’m glad that he criticized jk Rowling and Stephen king. To many people from my generation look at them as literary gods and that just simply isn’t true. There’s a difference between being a story teller and being literature, and there’s a difference between being a good story teller and great prose stylist and to many young readers confuse the two, king and Rowling being the perfect example.

[@ninjablack4347]

nobody looks at them as literary gods but everyone looks at them as people who can write an entertaining story. I read a lot and don't care for literary style as much as character development and an engaging plot. Seriously, i read award winning books and think "no wonder nobody talks about these, they're boring"

[@chrisd8760]

@@ninjablack4347 literary gods was definitely an overstatement. But there are lots of critics out there who put king on the same pedestal as Edgar Allen Poe or jk Rowling with Jane Austen, which seems to early of a judgment call for anyone, especially since neither king or Rowling have any Serious scholars on their work. And I’m not belittling them, as much as it may seem. they’re good STORY TELLERS, which has given them a mark on contemporary literature, but that’s it. I guess maybe I was trying to say that many readers/critics nowadays don’t seem to know how to discern from contemporary vs literature. Contemporary litterature is good in itself because it speaks to people on a grand scale, without coming across as boring. Thats important, but that shouldn’t be the basis of judgment when it comes to recognizing something as ‘great’.

[@ninjablack4347]

@@chrisd8760 you will find no disagreements with me on saying most literary critics today are hacks just as much as journalists

[@thugnomics123]

Please! I have been an avid reader since I was 12, very, very few people would consider Rowling and King as "literary gods". They are more like gateways to classic and what people like Bloom would consider "real literature". What they are, as they themselves have said are storytellers. Oh and for all of Bloom's diatribe, the man sucked at writing. Worshipping Shakespeare doesn't make you a great literary critic. I myself love Shakespeare. But Bloom is the type of one of those metal fan boys who consider anyone who listens to metallica "not a real fan". Pure ignoramus!

[@ninjablack4347]

@@thugnomics123 do you think its unfair for people who read a lot of genre books to critique the classics like "It takes too long for the plot to get going."

[@melon7676]

the prediction on harry potter aged well.

[@rwsavory]

Bloom was a brilliant, magnificent, pompous jackass. I would have enjoyed his lectures nonetheless. Although these days If children are reading anything in print I wouldn’t complain about it.

[@Klopp619]

Exactly this. Bloom was brilliant, and wrong in this case.

[@TdF_101]

If anyone should say something like this, it should be Mr. Bloom. And he was a man who devoted his life to literature, criticism, love of reading and books. I do think he is wrong in a sense. Just like films have different genres and different directors, so does literature.

[@renzo6490]

There is more to Harry Potter than meets the eye. There are important points being made. Every 'bad' character, we learn, has suffered from lack of nurturing as a child. We learn the nefarious roles the media play in shaping public opinion. And more...

[@m.c.a9677]

Hating Harry Potter is a sad trend among the literary snobs. It is as sad as those spoiled teenagers who hate the classic novels

[@m.c.a9677]

@Maurits Sure. It is not supposed to be something deep and there are lots of books that aren't deep but aren't criticized constantly. Its target are kids who are introducing themselves into literature and people looking for something enjoyable and easy. At least it motivates some people to read.

[@ripkhanna]

@Maurits Idiot

[@majestycrush]

Yup. It's the literary version of "I live in le wrong generation!"

[@richards.5964]

@@majestycrush Not really. The "Le wrong generation" crowd writes off just about every kind of music that isn't classic rock or grunge (and only the more popular bands, at that). Disliking one trendy book series doesn't mean that you dislike contemporary books.

[@diegocarvalho2667]

Like, Andersen's and Grimm's tales are, well, good literature. Bloom collected an intire trilogy of poems and stories for kids. Rudyard Kipling wrote for kids and os canonical.

[@danpartridge8584]

Incredible how, even in this day and age, there still exists a lifelong dual between literary fiction and popular fiction. They fully complement one another, but the literary folks always tend to adopt a high-society air about them and remain critical as hell of the opposition. I studied English Literature and have read all points on the spectrum. I don't feel I will ever fully comprehend this collective hostility 🤦

[@FilJR99]

I think the fundamental problem resides in two different aspects. On the one hand, many of these people with highly educated taste obviously develop some resistance to simpler or just “worse” works. I find myself having this problem sometimes, but I try to get off my high horse and try things anyway. On the other hand, I often find that the quality and quantity of the readings from many intellectuals don’t necessarily make them better human beings, they’re too disconnected and self-absorbed in their own knowledge to feel any empathy. If literature doesn’t move you, if it doesn’t make you a better person, if it doesn’t help see the world and the people in it in a more compassionate way, what is it for anyway?

[@danpartridge8584]

@@FilJR99 I completely forgot about this comment until your response showed up. Thanks for the insight! Three years later and I'm taking a bit of a sabbatical from fiction, reading political biographies instead. Most likely a subconscious motivation driven by the upcoming election. I'm flip-flopping at the moment between "Being Nixon" and Caro's "Path to Power" chronicling LBJ's early life.

[@FilJR99]

@@danpartridge8584 Thank you for sharing.🙂 I’ve been reading some non-fiction myself too, mainly a few books about cinema I had backlogged.

[@PanopticonsProgress]

I went from Goosebumps, to Roald Dahl, to the Wind in the Willows, to the Phantom Tollbooth, to Harry Potter, to Tolkien. Then to Shakespeare, Twain, Fitzgerald, Orwell, etc. Then graduated on to Cervantes, Austen, Tolstoy, Flaubert, Dostoevsky, Homer, Nabakov, Melville, etc. The idea that a child must read literature that Harold Bloom approves of in order to grow into reading great literature is nonsense. A love of reading needs to start somewhere. Now some people may begin with Harry Potter and end with Stephanie Meyer. Others will start will silly and childish things, this will inspire a love of reading, and their journey will take them far beyond their foundations.

[@Hidinginyourcupboard]

Savage! But sure, he is just being principled. However, I read some ACTUALLY terrible books as a child and I have still managed Wind in the Willows and Jane Austen since then, so he is being a bit dramatic.

[@controlthedreams]

Cold Blooded

[@charlieinslidell]

You can appreciate Harry Potter AND Shakespeare. You can appreciate Taylor Swift AND Beethoven. We live in a time of such variety and access to a whole array of humanity's accomplishments. Discovery of new music, books, art, or movies is all about being open to exposure of these mediums.

[@handyalley2350]

Its okay to read. To each his own. I think harry potter and stephen king are cool successful writers. Their books are legit.

[@shardsofice]

I will overlook the Harry Potter remark for the Stephen King remark.

[@todesque]

It's absolutely fascinating how many people commenting on this thread totally misunderstand Bloom's point. We are raising a generation of idiots who cannot think very clearly or deeply. Some books are wiser, richer and more artistic than others. As your mind grows, you tend to search out grander works and leave the fluff behind. It's not complicated, people! In my teens, for example, I voraciously read Agatha Christie, Stephen King, James Herbert and Wilbur Smith. These are all solid writers, and am glad I read them, but they hardly rank alongside Tolstoy, Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, Mann, Proust, Wharton, Chekhov, et al who I started reading in my 20s as I matured. You are welcome to read whatever the hell you want whenever you want. Knock yourself out. Occasionally I'll re-read a Wilbur Smith book of my youth just for the sugar rush. Men like Bloom have trudged the long, long path of literature and are letting us know what's worth reading. Life is short. Consider Bloom a travel guide. He's not a prophet or a God. I don't agree with everything the man said. Heck, I couldn't stand BLOOK MERIDIAN -- one of his favorite books. But I'm grateful for his guidance. Men like Bloom, Clifton Fadiman and Mortimer Adler have done a wonderful service by helping shape the Canon, and saying, ''Pssst! Hey you, you young whippersnapper, the good stuff is over here. Come and see.''

[@criert135]

What kind of guidance can his snobbishness offer? You know that he hasn’t actually read the Harry Potter books, right? His opinion on them is objectively ignorant and uninformed.

[@todesque]

@@criert135 I think he actually did read them.

[@criert135]

@@todesque The comments he made suggest he didn’t. “I went to the Yale University bookstore and bought and read a copy of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." I suffered a great deal in the process. The writing was dreadful; the book was terrible. As I read, I noticed that every time a character went for a walk, the author wrote instead that the character "stretched his legs." I began marking on the back of an envelope every time that phrase was repeated. I stopped only after I had marked the envelope several dozen times.” - Harold Bloom The phrase ‘stretched his legs’ appears only once in the book, in the first chapter. So he was clearly speaking in bad faith and outright lying to try and diminish the book. He’s outright stated elsewhere that he only read the first book (which I doubt he completed due to his other comments/lies). Regardless, the first book is not Harry Potter as a whole and there’s no way anybody could appreciate Harry Potter after just reading the first book.

[@todesque]

@@criert135 “What kind of guidance can his snobbishness offer?” Did you even read my comment at all? Or are you just so angry at Bloom you need to emote?

[@criert135]

@@todesque Read my reply. He has no idea what is “wiser, richer and more artistic” than Harry Potter because he hasn’t read it. It’s plain snobbery from ignorance.

[@reactolite]

Very good, I couldn't agree more! Bravo!

[@michaelokeke4976]

“Rubbish only good for the dust bins where they will certainly wind up” The Fifty Shades of Grey novels come to mind. Who the hell can read those books and qualify them as literature??

[@calixtomuni9780]

I am a reader of Bloom’s kind of books and I cut my teeth on Mad Magazine!

[@commonwunder]

“I am completely an elitist in the cultural but emphatically not the social sense. I prefer the good to the bad, the articulate to the mumbling, the aesthetically developed to the merely primitive, and full to partial consciousness.” Robert Huges

[@LethalBubbles]

he inspired me to read Moby Dick

[@mrcv4]

His concern stems not only from his professional obligation (and the fact that he profits from it), but also from the idea that if reading is in decline, this could impact his own livelihood. So the claim that reading is 'dying out' seems partly rooted in financial self-interest. If reading is truly essential for society, then why has the global IQ continued to rise despite a decline in book readership? Why has the standard of living improved even as fewer people read books? It is evident that what propels humanity forward is not so much 'serious' literature as Bloom suggests, but rather scientific achievements and empirical knowledge. Science faces far greater challenges-like solving practical problems that directly impact human life-compared to literary analysis. Scientific inquiry requires complex mental effort, similar to literary analysis, but with a more direct, functional purpose. From this perspective, works by Dostoyevsky and Rowling are equally nonessential to human progress. They serve primarily for entertainment, though Bloom and others may elevate their importance to justify their careers. While reading improves vocabulary and can impart knowledge, 'serious literature' cannot necessarily claim a more significant role than children’s books; its purpose is distinct, appealing to a different audience and serving different needs. That’s why I am genuinely surprised that people attribute so much importance to Bloom’s opinions, which seem more self-serving and self-affirming than altruistic. In my view, his promotion of 'Stories and Poems for Extremely Intelligent Children...' resembles the tactics of a street vendor hyping up their goods at a market. One would have to be willfully blind not to see through Bloom’s 'concern for literature' and recognize his intellectual dishonesty.

[@lynjazz5122]

'The Shining'!!! It's genuinely scary, dude!

[@rohitranjan78]

I completely agree with Mr harold bloom here . 😮

[@liammcooper]

I feel Harold Bloom was just sleeping in an armchair somewhere, and CSPAN would periodically to ask him about books.

[@jireh5941]

Harold Bloom is a savage when he criticizes authors he isn't very fond of.

[@EmlynBoyle]

His head must have near exploded when SK (deservedly) won the O Henry award. And as much as I dislike HP, Bloom was a pompous snob.

[@paulkossak7761]

Professor Blume has been my guide to great books and poetry, and I will always be grateful. RIP

[@pallasathena1555]

don’t get me wrong, Ive been a fan of hp since childhood but I’ve recently become torn over it. The fact that it’s the perfect consumer product (it literally has a theme park) and also promotes hyper consumption (the first place Harry goes when going through the wardrobe so to speak is … shopping). On the other hand there are echos of odysseus’s and Aeneas’s journeys through hades going so far as to have the philosophers stone guarded by a literal Cerberus, All this while still being magical Conan Doyle.

[@JingleJangleJam]

Well it takes the Anglicisation of its appurtenances, towns, places and names of wizards so much that, with names such as ''Longbottom'', and ''Quidditch'', that seems in its literary effect in popular conception to please and be charming to the imagination of an idyllic English aura, but for Harold Bloom invokes a feeling of bitter displeasure at being gratuitously kitsch imitation of classic England's authors like Conan Doyle.

[@nathanedmunds188]

Harry Potter is not great writing word for word, however there could be a debate over whether it is great storytelling. Stephen King is not great writing or storytelling, however his book on writing might be my favorite book of all time.

[@saulchapnick1566]

Even if one reads the Harry Potter series as a youngster, than the odds are more favorable that child will catch the reading bug.

[@stoicphysicalist]

The problem was created by focusing so much on just motivating reading, and not what to read.

[@barbomagoprefigurador2823]

It always amazes me how some people consider literature to be a kind of contest, or a horse race...

[@johnvalentine4720]

It is gratifying to hear somebody of Bloom's intellect and penetration and deep understanding of literature to denounce the Harry Potter books for the rubbish they are.

[@Klopp619]

If the reader who reads them finds them not to be rubbish, then they are correct for themselves. It's subjective whether we like it or not.

[@johnvalentine4720]

@@Klopp619 Subjective in a trivial sense. There has to be, and are, objective principles that distinguish great art (eg. Paradise Lost) from everything that isn't great art (eg. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire).

[@captainhaddock6435]

If you look up the words "elitist", "spoiled", "out of touch" or "snob" in the dictionary, you'll find a picture of yourself with all of them

[@NowhereMan2710]

Though I sympathise with his negativity there probably isn't any co-relation, I read Harry Potter, amongst many others, as a child and am now a devoted literature and classics reader. I think the problem is not Potter but the failure to move beyond it as enshrined by YA books

[@wiktoro137]

When I was a child, I read all of the HP books, multiple times. And yes, a couple of years later I was indeed reading one Stephen King's book after another, but this has never stopped me from reaching for high literature a couple of years later. When I read a SK's novel a year ago, I was surprises that I enjoyed that garbage, but well, my mind evolved and so did my literary taste.

[@serban8298]

You're just a weak reader if that's what you say about Stephen King after reading the classics!I did too, but King is still one of best writers of our time!

[@serban8298]

@@anthhhess3477 "Garbage detailing" is called character background and development, moron!King is no junk food, the only junk here are your superficial ideas because you can't accept that an old fool(now dead) with outdated beliefs got it wrong!Stephen King knows how to make use of psychology, he generates inner conflicts that are very actual for our days!Have you even read The Stand?It's an outstanding outlook on religion, human mind and human nature!

[@CesarClouds]

That's the spirit!

[@scrutinizer8]

@@serban8298it only means that classical literature apparently is not for you. It doesn’t mean that sb is a weak reader. Everyone should read what’s close to one’s heart. Also, there’s a question of what one wants from literature…

[@serban8298]

​@@scrutinizer8I do read a lot of classics.I actually study literature in college, but I also like authors like Stephen King and JK and it's really annoying when people like to give themselves a feeling of superiority for not reading mainstream books.

[@davidwalter2002]

I can't share what I see as his view of Harry Potter stunting the literary growth of young people. They won't advance only to Stephen King novels (although if they did, they still could do worse). At least they're reading. And why shouldn't they advance to Hemingway or Jane Austen? And why shouldn't they enjoy both? My daughter holds an English degree from NYU, and loves both Harry Potter and other fantasy books and classics like Austen and Shakespeare. I'm a classically trained musician who happens to have a great love for ragtime piano and Tin Pan Alley era popular songs. It's possible to appreciate lobster Thermidor and Golden Corral if the mood strikes you.

[@Ockersvin]

You read books for the plot, or you read them for the prose. Books that are excellent in both regards are very rare.

[@liketheduck]

Yes. I went on after Harry Potter to read great classical works.

[@BKNeifert]

Nope. They go on to Stephenie Meyers and Susan Collins. And E. L. James. And they stay on YA literature eternally.

[@magicaltour1]

I adored Harry Potter, but I couldn’t stand Twilight. I saw the first movie and felt like I was physically assaulted by its awfulness. Of course, I’d actually read “Dracula” by that point, and read every book I could find in our library on vampire lore, so I knew to balk at the “sparkles.”

[@plsdk8321]

Based