A big silvery janitor. Penny, this canโt be how the universe works.โ โIn the Order we call it โinverse profundity.โ Weโve observed it in any number of cases. The deeper you go into the cosmic mysteries, the less interesting everything gets.
Lev GrossmanThe idea of some kind of objectively constant, universal literary value is seductive. It feels real. It feels like a stone cold fact that In Search of Lost Time, by Marcel Proust, is better than A Shore Thing, by Snooki. And it may be; Snooki definitely has more one-star reviews on Amazon. But if literary value is real, no one seems to be able to locate it or define it very well. We're increasingly adrift in a grey void of aesthetic relativism.
Lev GrossmanI came from an anxious, overly intense East Coast academic family. That was the way of our tribe.
Lev GrossmanYoung minds - young brains - need stories and ideas like the ones in those [censored and banned] books in order to grow. They need ideas that you disagree with. They need ideas that I disagree with. Or they'll never be able to figure out what ideas they believe in.
Lev Grossman