I first came across the term 'anxiety of influence' when I was at university, writing essays about how poets felt inhibited by the weight of literary tradition that came before them. How could you write anything after Milton or Shakespeare or Wordsworth? I read the Harold Bloom book and nodded in a vague, theoretical kind of way.
But now I get the point. I've been rereading Sarah Waters. In particular, The Night Watch. Why bother? When someone can write so beautifully, with such an ear for period detail, and such a voice for her characters, is there any point in anyone else trying to write?
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