5/21/2023 0 Comments Harold bloom's the western canon![]() ![]() Publishers, too, have been known to commission books with titles such as The Hundred Best Modern Novels, often paying very decent advances for what may be, in effect, only the briefest of critical guides. Newspapers publish them in the form of weekly bestseller charts (whose only yardstick is sales) and, each Christmas, as "Books of the Year" (whose only yardstick should be quality, though, as Julie Burchill approvingly describes it, this annual convention can also be a way for authors to "send their season's greetings to friends"). It's a childish habit but children of all ages do it - even childrenof 64 like the American critic Harold Bloom, whose book, The Western Canon, with its short-list of 26 great authors and its long-list of 850 worthwhile ones, was the subject of controversy when published in the US two months ago and is certain t o generate further discussion when it is published in Britain in two weeks' time.īook lists are now an established part of our culture. EVERYONE makes lists - don't-forget lists of things to buy or do, but also sorting-out lists of favourite records and films, fantasy football teams, all-time-great cricketers and so on. ![]()
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