A few years back, rushthatspeaks and I drew a lovely Readercon panel on Influence. We talked it over beforehand, and had much to say: how art is a conversation, often with ghosts; how writers sing to one another, call and response. But Lev was on that panel, and he wrenched it to his own obsessions: art is all about how Daddy overshadows you, crushes you, and Must Be Slain with your Pen, and yadda yadda yadda. I finally had to say, "Oh, Lev. Harold Bloom is so 20th-century."

Nine