Grace.

In 2008, Jesse Pearson interviewed Harold Bloom ...

PEARSON:  Can you explain to me your concept of the solitary reader? That’s who you say you address your books to. 

BLOOM: It’s not a concept. It’s just a fact. There are solitary readers all over the world. I don’t have any special insight into this. I do not know why it is that certain young people, from the beginning, are loners—perfectly sane—who want to go and be alone with a very good book. Again, it’s the saving remnant. It’s a sort of strange grace and of course I’m profoundly thankful for it. So you don’t have to ask me what I mean by the solitary reader. I mean you—on the basis of what you’ve told me. All you need to know about the solitary reader is Pearson.

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