Harold Bloom, according to today's New York Times, was frequently called the most notorious literary critic in America. Read this for a detailed account of his life and work. He thought Shakespeare was a god and that god was a literary invention written by an anonymous woman he referred to as "J".I interviewed him in 2011 on the publication of The Anatomy of Influence: Literature as a Way of Life. As he said: " I really am the pariah of my profession in the English-speaking world." It was one of the last of my interviews for The Book Show and one of the most memorable.  Here is the audio and the transcript.