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The pleasures of reading… | blogjou

Harold Bloom

How to Read and Why

p. 22
19 May 2021

The pleasures of reading...


The pleasures of reading indeed are selfish rather than social. You cannot directly improve anyone else’s life by reading better or more deeply. I remain skeptical of the traditional social hope that care for others may be stimulated by the growth of individual imagination, and I am wary of any arguments whatsoever that connect the pleasures of solitary reading to the public good.