A selection of the lively letters between one of the world’s greatest literary critics and the poets, novelists, and scholars he most admired 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. “I could only wish for the book to be several times longer.”―Henry Oliver, The Common Reader Substack “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 Harold Bloom (1930–2019) was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of the Humanities at Yale University. His books include The Anatomy of Influence and Take Arms Against a Sea of Troubles . Heather Cass White is an English professor at the University of Alabama. She is the author of Books Promiscuously Read: Reading as a Way of Life , among other volumes.