Harold Bloom, widely recognized as America's leading literary critic, discussed Shakespeare and Genius at the Library of Congress. The event was sponsored by the John W. Kluge Center and the Office of Scholarly Programs.

Bloom based his presentation on three of his recently published books: Hamlet: Poem Unlimited (Riverhead Books, 2003), Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human (Riverhead Books, 1998), and Genius: A Mosaic of One Hundred Exemplary Creative Minds (Warner Books, 2002).

Bloom is Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University and Berg Professor of English at New York University. The winner of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 1985 and an American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Criticism in 1999, he is the author of more than 20 books. He has edited nearly 500 additional works, most of them in the Chelsea House series of literary criticism.

Established in 2000 through a $60 million endowment from John W. Kluge, the Kluge Center at the Library of Congress hosts qualified scholars conducting research in its comprehensive collections for a period of up to one year. The center furnishes work and discussion space for the Kluge Chair holders, other established chairs, distinguished visiting scholars, Kluge postdoctoral fellows, and for postdoctoral fellows supported by other private foundation gifts.