u003cbu003eIn his first book devoted exclusively to narrative fiction, America's most original and controversial literary critic and legendary Yale professor writes trenchantly about fifty-two masterworks spanning the Western tradition.u003c/bu003e u003cpu003ePerhaps no other literary critic but Harold Bloom could--or would--undertake a project of this immensity. And certainly no other critic could bring to it the extraordinary knowledge, understanding, and insight that are the hallmark of Bloom's every book. Ranging across centuries and continents, this final book of his career, gives us the inimitable critic onu003ciu003e Don Quixote u003c/iu003eandu003ciu003e Book of Numbers; Wuthering Heights u003c/iu003eandu003ciu003e Absalom, Absalom; Les Miserables u003c/iu003eandu003ciu003e Blood Meridian; Vanity Fair u003c/iu003eandu003ciu003e Invisible Man; The Captain's Daughter u003c/iu003eandu003ciu003e The Reef. u003c/iu003eHe writes about works byu003ciu003e u003c/iu003eAusten, Balzac, Dickens, Tolstoy, James, Conrad, Lawrence, Wolff, Le Guin, Sebald, and many more. Whether you have already read these books, or intend to, or simply care about the importance and power of fiction, Harold Bloom serves as an unparalleled guide through the pages of these 52 masterpieces of the genre.