Cell (quick review)

Cell is a recent-ish novel by Stephen King, in which cellphones cause people to go mad, and pretty quickly cause the downfall of human civilization. It is dedicated to George Romero and Richard Matheson, and that’s what it reads like: somewhere between scary, hilarious and thoughtful. It asks interesting questions …

Harold Bloom and the Death of Art

“Poetry fettered fetters the human race. Nations are destroyed, or flourish, in proportion as their poetry, painting, and music are destroyed or flourish!” – William Blake Let’s start with this: an excellent article by Stephen King on Harry Potter and reading in modern society. [Warning: do not read it if …

A Response on Literature and Stephen King

I came across this in a recent blog post: Along with Harold Bloom you may be astonished and dismayed to know that Stephen King was given the National Book Foundation’s annual award for “distinguished contribution” in 2003. (‘Dumbing down American readers’, Boston Globe Op-ed, September 24, 2003. Found on their …