I'll second that. From The Best Of The Best Of American Poetry, 1998, Harold Bloom's introduction: "Authentic American poetry is necessarily difficult; it is our elitist art, though that elite has nothing to do with social class, gender, erotic preference, ethnic strain, race, or sect."
I really dont know how he says some of these things with a straight face. He is another reason I am happy that I am not at a school like Yale. Such schools have ancient dinosaurs barking the most offensive, absurd things.
OMG, I know! Mike laughs because I'll randomly go off on how much I hate Bloom. The only thing I ever sort of liked was The Anxiety of Influence. Otherwise, I think Bloom's an asshole for so many reasons. We used to sit around undergrad theory classes and mock him.
He is crazy. People look at me like I am so strange when I randomly go off on how I hate Bloom. They look at me the same way when I feel the need to defend Judith Butler's writing style.
There is definitely something to The Anxiety of Influence. I think that it must be because it is early Bloom, and he hadn't quite lost his mind yet.
Randomly came across this blog and was caught by the vitriolic Bloom comments. Why the disdain? His arguments are valid, no? If not entirely palatable and regardless of one's agreement with them.
I think Bloom has done more than any of his contemporaries in the field of lit-crit to make reading interesting, fun, and, most importantly, relevant. When Bloom talks about a book, for good or bad, people go out and read that book, either to prove Bloom a fool or to see what all his fuss is about. This is a good thing for the entire enterprise of literature. My two cents.
Re: Harold BloommrzachyboyMay 2 2008, 23:01:42 UTC
Bloom's work is definitely interesting, and I I think that you are right: his comments have sent many people to the shelves to read, even if they are only reading to try to disagree with him
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Re: Harold Bloom
anonymous
May 2 2008, 23:41:15 UTC
Since commenting, I read some of your other posts and have to say that you need not apologize for this instance of "frustration". What are blogs for, really, if not catharsis
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vomit.
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There is definitely something to The Anxiety of Influence. I think that it must be because it is early Bloom, and he hadn't quite lost his mind yet.
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I think Bloom has done more than any of his contemporaries in the field of lit-crit to make reading interesting, fun, and, most importantly, relevant. When Bloom talks about a book, for good or bad, people go out and read that book, either to prove Bloom a fool or to see what all his fuss is about. This is a good thing for the entire enterprise of literature. My two cents.
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