Harold Bloom Viceland Interview
Read a report today in the Yale Daily News that Harold Bloom has had to cancel his classes this semester due to illness. He’s had a brutal last several years, but had seemed to be doing well lately–up until today’s announcement, anyhow. Here’s hoping that this is just a blip on the screen for him. Anyway, the above is from a great, and weirdly sweet, interview that I just uncovered that he gave to Vice Magazine last year. It’s worth reading in full.
Lastly, since HB tends to be a lightning-rod for controversy and/or ignorant invective, you are hereby reminded that a man is ill, perhaps gravely so, and you are forewarned to say something kind/useful, or else keep your bullshit to yourself for once.
Tags: Harold Bloom, Viceland
ok, wow. Harold Bloom.
ok, wow. Harold Bloom.
being gravely ill is for pussies.
i’m sorry.
being gravely ill is for pussies.
i’m sorry.
I just love that Bloom is getting so much play lately in htmlgiant — and a year ago in Vice(?!). Makes me think there are only bridges, no divides. I like this thought.
I just love that Bloom is getting so much play lately in htmlgiant — and a year ago in Vice(?!). Makes me think there are only bridges, no divides. I like this thought.
I once attended a Harold Bloom class, maybe five or six years ago. At the beginning of the class, the early arrivals were sitting around the long seminar table, and about thirty students were standing. (This was during shopping period, when you just go to any classes you want and sit in on them to decide what to take.) I was standing. Everyone stood there and waited. And waited. And waited. And then I realized that the class was already going on, and that Bloom was sitting ten feet away from me and had been speaking for some time, but he was in such poor health and speaking so quietly that I hadn’t heard him or realized he was speaking.
Then I listened to what he was saying. He was saying that Othello hadn’t married Desdemona when the play takes place, so they had never consummated their relationship, and that if you read the play in that light, it was different somehow (I can’t remember what that changed). And I was thinking, “It’s not possible they had sex before they were married?”
I once attended a Harold Bloom class, maybe five or six years ago. At the beginning of the class, the early arrivals were sitting around the long seminar table, and about thirty students were standing. (This was during shopping period, when you just go to any classes you want and sit in on them to decide what to take.) I was standing. Everyone stood there and waited. And waited. And waited. And then I realized that the class was already going on, and that Bloom was sitting ten feet away from me and had been speaking for some time, but he was in such poor health and speaking so quietly that I hadn’t heard him or realized he was speaking.
Then I listened to what he was saying. He was saying that Othello hadn’t married Desdemona when the play takes place, so they had never consummated their relationship, and that if you read the play in that light, it was different somehow (I can’t remember what that changed). And I was thinking, “It’s not possible they had sex before they were married?”
What about this man sparks your flagpole? I’ve read your dissections of his work before (you remember that series? What happened to that series?) — let me put it like this…. what are ‘standards’?
What about this man sparks your flagpole? I’ve read your dissections of his work before (you remember that series? What happened to that series?) — let me put it like this…. what are ‘standards’?
Nice interview. Thanks for posting, Justin. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to appreciate Bloom more and more. He’s an excellent writer who’s wide and embracing taste in literature has been badly distorted by his critics. When I was in college I would’ve spit on the Western Cannon on principle, but once I got around to actually you know reading the thing, I was struck by its insights and found myself largely agreeing with many of its arguments. Anyhow, glad to see your love of Bloom on here. Hope he recovers his health very soon.
whose
Nice interview. Thanks for posting, Justin. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to appreciate Bloom more and more. He’s an excellent writer who’s wide and embracing taste in literature has been badly distorted by his critics. When I was in college I would’ve spit on the Western Cannon on principle, but once I got around to actually you know reading the thing, I was struck by its insights and found myself largely agreeing with many of its arguments. Anyhow, glad to see your love of Bloom on here. Hope he recovers his health very soon.
whose
i’ve been digging into vice’s fiction features too lately. some surprisingly sweet stuff. and consistently varied and interesting.
i really liked this story by this french writer i had never heard of before, raymond federman called “list of scenes from my childhood to be written”: http://www.viceland.com/int/v16n12/htdocs/list-of-scenes-of-my-childhood-260.php
and i liked this comic too, “the new yorker story” by sam harkham: http://www.viceland.com/int/v16n12/htdocs/comics-sammy-harkham-269.php
i’ve been digging into vice’s fiction features too lately. some surprisingly sweet stuff. and consistently varied and interesting.
i really liked this story by this french writer i had never heard of before, raymond federman called “list of scenes from my childhood to be written”: http://www.viceland.com/int/v16n12/htdocs/list-of-scenes-of-my-childhood-260.php
and i liked this comic too, “the new yorker story” by sam harkham: http://www.viceland.com/int/v16n12/htdocs/comics-sammy-harkham-269.php
damn, that is harsh bro
damn, that is harsh bro
Me too, Jeff–to every thing that you said.
Me too, Jeff–to every thing that you said.
Oh, no, HB. Please get better. When I was an actor, your interpretation of Shakespeare did more for me than any acting professor I ever had.
Justin, thank you for posting this. It’s very good.
Oh, no, HB. Please get better. When I was an actor, your interpretation of Shakespeare did more for me than any acting professor I ever had.
Justin, thank you for posting this. It’s very good.
Yeah, if nothing else he gets points in my book for liking Ashbery before Ashbery was even Ashbery.
Getting old is not a good thing, no matter who you are.
Yeah, if nothing else he gets points in my book for liking Ashbery before Ashbery was even Ashbery.
Getting old is not a good thing, no matter who you are.
i hope that is some sort of attempted joke
if not, it’s worse than harsh. you’ll see at some point, friendo.
i hope that is some sort of attempted joke
if not, it’s worse than harsh. you’ll see at some point, friendo.
“much worse. Just look at the enormous international as well as domestic dumbing down and decline in serious reading and indeed the falling apart, inevitably, of standards.”
THIS APPLIES TO *YOU*, ALL YOU STORY “OUTLETS” OUT THERE INEFFECTUAL AND UNREAD! AND ALSO TV, MAGAZINES, NEWSPAPERS, BOOK PUBLISHERS … BIG YUCK TO ALL!
“much worse. Just look at the enormous international as well as domestic dumbing down and decline in serious reading and indeed the falling apart, inevitably, of standards.”
THIS APPLIES TO *YOU*, ALL YOU STORY “OUTLETS” OUT THERE INEFFECTUAL AND UNREAD! AND ALSO TV, MAGAZINES, NEWSPAPERS, BOOK PUBLISHERS … BIG YUCK TO ALL!
I don’t agree with HB on all fronts, but I’ve come to appreciate him as I’ve gotten older, and after taking countless literature classes that went an entire semester without even broaching aesthetics. It’s mind boggling that there are lit professors teaching novels who know absolutely nothing about aesthetics, form, structure, style, etc. Mention a writer’s style or use of language in many lit classes and you’ll get blank stares. I’m interested in big, “sociological” and “political” ideas, but it shouldn’t be difficult to address these larger ideas while also considering aesthetics. Often, one gets a better understanding of the larger ideas at play by starting with a work’s aesthetic qualities.
I don’t agree with HB on all fronts, but I’ve come to appreciate him as I’ve gotten older, and after taking countless literature classes that went an entire semester without even broaching aesthetics. It’s mind boggling that there are lit professors teaching novels who know absolutely nothing about aesthetics, form, structure, style, etc. Mention a writer’s style or use of language in many lit classes and you’ll get blank stares. I’m interested in big, “sociological” and “political” ideas, but it shouldn’t be difficult to address these larger ideas while also considering aesthetics. Often, one gets a better understanding of the larger ideas at play by starting with a work’s aesthetic qualities.
That was a fucking great interview, very much like a novel I wish would not end (a rare thing). I sure was disappointed to see it went 2 link pages. It needed 12. Thanks.
That was a fucking great interview, very much like a novel I wish would not end (a rare thing). I sure was disappointed to see it went 2 link pages. It needed 12. Thanks.
Justin — Thanks for the news of one of my oldest favorites. I have this weird fear that something aweful could happen to Prof. Bloom, and I wouldn’t find out for days. Good to know there’s someone else who cares enough to let me know.
Nick — What the hell? Othello and Desdemona never consummated? That happens act one, scene one! ‘Beast with two backs” and all that. Are you sure you didn’t mishear him?
Oh, and did you finally decide to stay in his seminar, or did that comment turn you off?
Justin — Thanks for the news of one of my oldest favorites. I have this weird fear that something aweful could happen to Prof. Bloom, and I wouldn’t find out for days. Good to know there’s someone else who cares enough to let me know.
Nick — What the hell? Othello and Desdemona never consummated? That happens act one, scene one! ‘Beast with two backs” and all that. Are you sure you didn’t mishear him?
Oh, and did you finally decide to stay in his seminar, or did that comment turn you off?
aesthetics is the largest idea.
“And the wisdom that becomes available over a deep, lifelong engagement with the aesthetic cannot, I venture to say, be duplicated by any other kind of seriousness. Indeed, the various definitions of beauty come at least as close to a plausible characterization of virtue, and of a fuller humanity, as the attempts to define goodness as such.”
–Susan Sontag
aesthetics is the largest idea.
“And the wisdom that becomes available over a deep, lifelong engagement with the aesthetic cannot, I venture to say, be duplicated by any other kind of seriousness. Indeed, the various definitions of beauty come at least as close to a plausible characterization of virtue, and of a fuller humanity, as the attempts to define goodness as such.”
–Susan Sontag
Yes, wow. That quote just about sums up my worldview, there.
Yes, wow. That quote just about sums up my worldview, there.
me too, alec. it is one of my favorite things out of all categories of things.
me too, alec. it is one of my favorite things out of all categories of things.
Look forward to reading this interview, I always keep an eye open for all things Bloom related but this one escaped my radar. And it’s refreshing to hear so many voices here calling out for aesthetics and cheering on our ailing mystical rabbi!
Look forward to reading this interview, I always keep an eye open for all things Bloom related but this one escaped my radar. And it’s refreshing to hear so many voices here calling out for aesthetics and cheering on our ailing mystical rabbi!
Oh my God you just signed your name ‘Perscors.’ How amazingly, fabulously brilliant of you!
In a creepy-pervy kind of way.
Are you the only other guy on Earth who’s read that aweful book?
Oh my God you just signed your name ‘Perscors.’ How amazingly, fabulously brilliant of you!
In a creepy-pervy kind of way.
Are you the only other guy on Earth who’s read that aweful book?
Great quote, Amy, and I agree with Sontag.
Great quote, Amy, and I agree with Sontag.
[…] to attempt such an undertaking, I’ve got other things to do this afternoon. But, since the Viceland interview I linked to the other day seems to have been received well, I thought I would share another bit of Webvailable Bloomiana: this […]
Bloom seems better associated with some satiating completeness than any other public figure. Just makes you want to digest every great thought that’s ever beeen shared.
Bloom seems better associated with some satiating completeness than any other public figure. Just makes you want to digest every great thought that’s ever beeen shared.