“The 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.”

American novelist and journalist

Lev Grossman is an American novelist and journalist. He is best known for the Magicians trilogy, which began with The Magicians in 2009 and continued with The Magician King and The Magician’s Land. He was book critic and lead technology writer at Time magazine from 2002 to 2016. His later work includes the children’s books The Silver Arrow and The Golden Swift, the novel The Bright Sword, a reimagining of the King Arthur legend, and the screenplay for The Map of Tiny Perfect Things, adapted from his short story.