Comments on: At Home with Harold Bloom: (2) on the Humanities

By: Palooka

Palooka — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 20:10:53 +0000

A rigid cannon is the only kind of cannon one should fire. Otherwise the shell will not exit properly.

By: Billy McBride

Billy McBride — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 00:37:33 +0000

It is sad what has happened to our universities. Everybody seems impatient to destroy themselves with much eagerness. I blame this Time and even though I know I am loved, I still go on reading hoping to make more aquaintences through books. Why the moralists have taken over our Universities I have no answer for. It is an unsolvable puzzle. The pieces are all different sizes and some do not fit. The hunting for a way to make them connect will not be of any profit. The teachers who teach without standards will vanish away. It is too complicated a story to follow. I do not need a sinking star to guide me drooping in the South to have hope in what Harold Bloom’s practice results in. He gives hope in place of that quest which we sometimes seek in our belated efforts to find friends.

By: Joshua Hendrickson, Talent OR

Joshua Hendrickson, Talent OR — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 06:26:07 +0000

I am reading THE WESTERN CANON right now and like most intelligent lit crit I find it immensely stimulating. In particular I want to find Goethe’s FAUST PART TWO (I only own part one) and dig up my paperback copy of PEER GYNT and give them both a whirl. My own novels-in-progress (available for perusal on my blog) are sure to be enriched by these two works, both of which I have long been aware of but never seriously considered before. As for multiculturalism, I see it as a necessary step in the opening up of the world to genuine civilization, but I agree with Bloom that aesthetics matter the most in deciding which works are canonical, and not politics (politics in the real world are so little influenced by literature these days anyway).

By: Informed Thinker

Informed Thinker — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 04:43:56 +0000

The “multiculturalism” Bloom dismisses is not one that encourages the readership of “Black Boy” or “Their Eyes Were Watching God” (both of which are listed in his Western Canon and lauded in his other writings), but one that canonizes and teaches literature on merits not aesthetic, weak compositions that can be easily molded to indulge the professor’s own tendentiousness. Furthermore, in the “Western Canon”, though he deems the Canon the crucial cultural center for the West, the catalogue Bloom wrote–and later dismissed–is prefaced with words staving off the perception of his list as a life-long reading guide.

By: Riohacha

Riohacha — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 02:25:14 +0000

I agree with Bloom. The school of resentment is a total part of English Lit studies. I have graduated from a school where that is all they teach. Sure Whitman was a possible racist pedophile and I do believe Bloom only supports Whitman because he knows what Whitman embodies. Aesthetically Whitman is actually pretty weak. I think Bloom only supports Whitman because of Whitman’s quintessential americanism and Bloom wants to secure his place as “America’s Samuel Johnson.” He knows by supporting Whitman’s sheer novelty free-verse and watered-down transcendentalism will win him points in the History of American Lit. Really, where is Whitman’s strong verse? It is political speeches, democratic apologetics.

But back to my original point: to get a degree in English is to say whatever PC statement your professor wants to hear. Using post-structuralist catch-phrases will earn you points too (also see “affect,” “abject,” etc.). There is no value on intellect, on critical thinking (unless you are being “politically” critical), and general intuition. There is little emphasis on learning. My American Lit class only consisted of one TS Eliot poem, a book by Jean Toomer, about 5 essays by WEB Dubois, and then a weak book by Tim O’Brien. Can you believe that?!? No Faulkner, no Hemingway, no Beats. Everybody in the class complained. It is pure politics: people advancing because of their ideologies and who have no real excitement when it comes to actual language arts. There is no art, just political statements (aka platitudes). Most of us are already liberal and Leftist enough. Give us a break Professors. We get it.

By: dud

dud — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 20:43:31 +0000

Who’s afraid of Harold Bloom? I am. He may not have saught clones but I aspired to such. Not de facto, since I was never a student of his although removed by one generation from two. I read most of his works (took me a few years) and even wrote an essay about him and a satire on his theories–all unpublished– although I sent him the latter which he said he enjoyed. That bucked me up no end. Oh, yes–Why afraid? Because one always kills one’s influencer, an act of parricide I would never wish to commit.

By: Potter

Potter — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 21:06:15 +0000

This interview stops oddly mid sentence. I wonder if that is intended.

I understand nbowling’s above and well said. Bloom has a view few have though. All in all I am glad that there is someone standing there firmly saying that this does not measure up. I don’t have to agree.

At the end when he figures out what to say for the article about Giovanni- he comes up with something perfect. He said “I am not yet competent to judge…” ( he was thinking “that garbage”)- but one can interpret that differently.

By: plaintext

plaintext — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 19:20:50 +0000

I’m not sure I could even turn 1000 pages in 1 hour much less read them. But to pore over a loved work of literature with the realization that the precious hours of one’s life are being paid for this relationship is akin to hugging one’s daughter for as much of eternity as she and the gods will grant.

By: nbowling

nbowling — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 07:10:05 +0000

I am apparently a member of the school of resentment.

I recognize that the academy requires people to occupy the role of gatekeeper. However, I am less than comfortable with the idea of a rigid cannon. And I am downright uncomfortable with the idea of a rigid cannon with a solitary gatekeeper–especially when this one person has so little cultural connection to the populace at large. The literature of a society is reflective of the shared experiences of the people therein, as we become a more culturally diverse society the cannon must reflect that.

I have had a copy of the Western Cannon as compiled by Bloom (the 1994 edition) on my shelf since I was in high school and as a teacher I have frequently referenced it. However, as I have grown older and read more and more of my intellectual heroes: Orwell, Emerson, Dubois, Roth, Hitchens, and Baldwin it has become apparent that the cannon as visioned by Mr. Bloom does not represent me, nor does it include many people who resemble the kids I teach.

There is value in what Mr. Bloom dismisses scornfully as “multiculturalism”; there is value in exposing students from all walks of life to Cisneros and Hurston. Students from working class environments need to read the poetry of Dickinson and the transcendentalism of Emerson and the elite benefit from experiencing “Black Boy” and “Their Eyes Were Watching God”.

When Bloom writes in the Western Cannon of the “Chaotic Age” it sets off a certain tingle in my skin. The disruption of the status quo to those whom have had the position of rulemaker often appears to be chaotic. Yet to those struggling below it feels more like democracy.

Oh, and before anyone asks. No, I don’t read People Magazine.

By: Jesse Merle

Jesse Merle — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 19:08:17 +0000

1000 pages an hour, uphill, both ways, in the snow…