Snippets
As regular readers of this blog know, over the past year or so I’ve been reading a lot of Harold Bloom. I’ve blogged my favorite quotes from his books as I’ve come across them, read several books on the strength of his recommendation (Bleak House, Kafka’s Blue Octavo Notebooks, Tolstoy’s Hadji Murad). But I don’t think I’ve said much about his body of work as a body of work, or articulated what it is about him that compels my sustained interest. And I’m still not going to do that–at least not today; first, because I’m not yet prepared to articulate that thought or those thoughts (blogs happen basically in real time, and my own work here is a present-tense record of my own ongoing education and expanding horizons, rather than any kind of attempted statement of intractable positions or beliefs); and second, even if I was prepared 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 New York Times Review of Bloom’s Where Shall Wisdom Be Found?. The review is from October 2004, and is written by the great Melville scholar Andrew Delbanco. It offers a concise and articulate an introduction to Bloom’s virtues and talents–as well as a clear-eyed but vitriol-free acknowledgment of his limitations. I don’t know–or care, quite frankly–whether it will sell you on Bloom, but I think it will help make clear why I have become such a regular customer.
I’ve been sold on Bloom for a long time, despite what _I_ consider to be _his limitations_, _for me as a reader._ It has pleased me to have seen Bloom included in HTML G posts.
I agree with what you say about blogs/real time. An important notion to keep in mind always when exploring the internet.
And thanks for the links. I’ve read Bloom, but not a lot _about_ him. Yet.
I’ve been sold on Bloom for a long time, despite what _I_ consider to be _his limitations_, _for me as a reader._ It has pleased me to have seen Bloom included in HTML G posts.
I agree with what you say about blogs/real time. An important notion to keep in mind always when exploring the internet.
And thanks for the links. I’ve read Bloom, but not a lot _about_ him. Yet.
Bloom’s ideas are interesting, I agree.
Sorry to point this out but: at the moment the link above goes to an Electric Literature piece.
I think this might be the NYT Book Review of Where Shall Wisdom Be Found? you are referring to:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/10/books/review/10DELBANC.html
Bloom’s ideas are interesting, I agree.
Sorry to point this out but: at the moment the link above goes to an Electric Literature piece.
I think this might be the NYT Book Review of Where Shall Wisdom Be Found? you are referring to:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/10/books/review/10DELBANC.html
fixed, thanks Kevin
fixed, thanks Kevin
You’re right. Just discovered that myself.
You’re right. Just discovered that myself.
Ah Christ, sorry about that. But for the record, I don’t see a difference between Andrew Delbanco on Harold Bloom and that short-short I wrote about groupies.
Ah Christ, sorry about that. But for the record, I don’t see a difference between Andrew Delbanco on Harold Bloom and that short-short I wrote about groupies.
harold bloom is great
harold bloom is great
R.I.P Jay Reatard.
R.I.P Jay Reatard.
I am loving the Bloom-loving.
I am loving the Bloom-loving.
I recall (and have now confirmed with an HTMLGIANT search) a post last year about Bloom re Blood Meridian that I very much enjoyed (http://htmlgiant.com/excerpts/harold-bloom-onion-av-club-interview-talking-specifically-about-blood-meridian/).
It linked to this AV Club interview:
http://www.avclub.com/articles/harold-bloom-on-blood-meridian,29214/
The quote you chose:
“The first time I read Blood Meridian, I was so appalled that while I was held, I gave up after about 60 pages….it was more than I could take. But it intrigued me, because there was no question about the quality of the writing, which is stunning. So I went back a second time, and I got, I don’t remember… 140, 150 pages, and then, I think it was the Judge who got me. He was beginning to give me nightmares just as he gives the kid nightmares. And then the third time, it went off like a shot. I went straight through it and was exhilarated.”
This was my experience reading that book – exactly.
I’m wondering if Bloom is like Gore Vidal, whom I also enjoy immensely: people admire him or despise him?
I recall (and have now confirmed with an HTMLGIANT search) a post last year about Bloom re Blood Meridian that I very much enjoyed (http://htmlgiant.com/excerpts/harold-bloom-onion-av-club-interview-talking-specifically-about-blood-meridian/).
It linked to this AV Club interview:
http://www.avclub.com/articles/harold-bloom-on-blood-meridian,29214/
The quote you chose:
“The first time I read Blood Meridian, I was so appalled that while I was held, I gave up after about 60 pages….it was more than I could take. But it intrigued me, because there was no question about the quality of the writing, which is stunning. So I went back a second time, and I got, I don’t remember… 140, 150 pages, and then, I think it was the Judge who got me. He was beginning to give me nightmares just as he gives the kid nightmares. And then the third time, it went off like a shot. I went straight through it and was exhilarated.”
This was my experience reading that book – exactly.
I’m wondering if Bloom is like Gore Vidal, whom I also enjoy immensely: people admire him or despise him?
No, Bloom is not like Gore Vidal. Bloom is a literary theorist. Vidal is a conspiracy theorist. Bloom praises the American Sublime. Vidal hates America. Whereas Vidal hates the Jews, Bloom is a Jew.
Get it?
No, Bloom is not like Gore Vidal. Bloom is a literary theorist. Vidal is a conspiracy theorist. Bloom praises the American Sublime. Vidal hates America. Whereas Vidal hates the Jews, Bloom is a Jew.
Get it?
Okay, I see where this is going.
I’ll just say that I’m not comparing their work but reader/viewer reaction to the two men.
Although in that NY Times Book Review, acknowledging Bloom’s limitations, Delbanco says Bloom can be “irritatingly oracular”. I’d say the same of Vidal.
Also from the first line of that review: “Harold Bloom’s latest book is a personal tour of writers he treasures, from the Hebrew sages to Nietzsche and Proust.”
Sublime perhaps, but where are the Americans in this sentence?
Okay, I see where this is going.
I’ll just say that I’m not comparing their work but reader/viewer reaction to the two men.
Although in that NY Times Book Review, acknowledging Bloom’s limitations, Delbanco says Bloom can be “irritatingly oracular”. I’d say the same of Vidal.
Also from the first line of that review: “Harold Bloom’s latest book is a personal tour of writers he treasures, from the Hebrew sages to Nietzsche and Proust.”
Sublime perhaps, but where are the Americans in this sentence?
The Americans in that book are Emerson–who gets a half-chapter; all the chapters are pairings–and, mentioned in passing, Whitman, Stevens and Hart Crane.
The Americans in that book are Emerson–who gets a half-chapter; all the chapters are pairings–and, mentioned in passing, Whitman, Stevens and Hart Crane.
Ah, Stevens and Crane. In the review Delbanco brings up Whitman and Emerson along with Joseph Smith. Hmm. Not sure about this list.
Ah, Stevens and Crane. In the review Delbanco brings up Whitman and Emerson along with Joseph Smith. Hmm. Not sure about this list.
Kevin, if you want the Big List, consult The Western Canon, though if you read the Viceland interview linked above you’ll see that that list was a sort of forced-hand job on the publisher’s part, and isn’t complete either. But in no case are these lists–in Western OR in Wisdom–meant to be exhaustive. There really is no “list” per se, in Wisdom. There’s just the writers he has chosen to write about, and each chapter is a pairing– the pairings are designed to demonstrate/explore how different kinds of wisdom throughout the ages have been embodied in contrasting or balancing ways. Homer and Plato, Cervantes and Shakespeare, Emerson and Nietzsche, Samuel Johnson and Michel de Montaigne, etc. It could only make sense in that context that Americans would make a late, and limited appearance.
Kevin, if you want the Big List, consult The Western Canon, though if you read the Viceland interview linked above you’ll see that that list was a sort of forced-hand job on the publisher’s part, and isn’t complete either. But in no case are these lists–in Western OR in Wisdom–meant to be exhaustive. There really is no “list” per se, in Wisdom. There’s just the writers he has chosen to write about, and each chapter is a pairing– the pairings are designed to demonstrate/explore how different kinds of wisdom throughout the ages have been embodied in contrasting or balancing ways. Homer and Plato, Cervantes and Shakespeare, Emerson and Nietzsche, Samuel Johnson and Michel de Montaigne, etc. It could only make sense in that context that Americans would make a late, and limited appearance.
“It could only make sense in that context that Americans would make a late, and limited appearance.”
True, I agree.
“It could only make sense in that context that Americans would make a late, and limited appearance.”
True, I agree.
All the recent Bloom-loving inspired me to reread Anxiety tonight. Such a beautiful book!
All the recent Bloom-loving inspired me to reread Anxiety tonight. Such a beautiful book!
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