Page 1 of 6 123456 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 84

Thread: The Western Canon

  1. #1
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Posts
    2

    The Western Canon

    I am wondering if anyone has read "The Western Canon" by Harold Bloom. I am try to get through the first chapter An Elegy of the Canon and am finding his writing style quite difficult to follow. I am hoping that someone can shed some light. It can can be found here: http://mrbauld.com/elegy1.html
    Thanks.

  2. #2
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Belo Horizonte- Brasil
    Posts
    3,309
    Why are you reading it?

  3. #3
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Posts
    11
    I have the book but never finished reading it. I really like his writing, but that's not to say that I may like what he writes. I love his treatment of feminist critics, Marxist critics, etc. Good for a laugh. It seems Bloom sometimes rambles on in The Western Canon. I hear that he's an elitist. He turned down Oprah Winfrey's invitation to her show. Oprah has that Midas touch, and he would have been set for life.

    I like his Anxiety of Influence. Interesting theory.

  4. #4
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Posts
    67
    I've never read it cover to cover, but I've gone through some of the chapters and thought that they were fantastic. From memory, the chapters on Dickinson, Joyce, Proust and Tolstoy were outstanding. I remember his readings of Dickinson taking my breath away the first time I read them; they changed completely how I thought of her as a poet. It's probably his best work for the public - the Shakespeare book was a bit repetitive.

    What exactly are you struggling with? 'An Elegy...' is basically the heart of Bloom: that politically/racially/gender motivated studies of literature are useless and that the author's own background/sexuality/race etc should have no bearing on how their work is judged. He's lamenting the fact that this is not the norm (though really it is - he can be a bit hyperbolic when he feels threatened) and that deep reading is (supposedly) dead.

  5. #5
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Posts
    2
    I need to give a presentation on Harold Bloom and his theories for a grade 12 english presentation.

  6. #6
    Bibliophile Drkshadow03's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    My heart lives in New York.
    Posts
    1,716
    Quote Originally Posted by Dr Doom View Post
    I have the book but never finished reading it. I really like his writing, but that's not to say that I may like what he writes. I love his treatment of feminist critics, Marxist critics, etc. Good for a laugh. It seems Bloom sometimes rambles on in The Western Canon. I hear that he's an elitist. He turned down Oprah Winfrey's invitation to her show. Oprah has that Midas touch, and he would have been set for life.

    I like his Anxiety of Influence. Interesting theory.
    Where did you get that information from about him turning down Oprah? I did a google search and I found a NY Times article about the time Franzen turned down Oprah:

    Even some defenders of that high-art literary tradition took Mr. Franzen to task. The critic Harold Bloom said he would be ''honored'' to be invited by Ms. Winfrey. ''It does seem a little invidious of him to want to have it both ways, to want the benefits of it and not jeopardize his high aesthetic standing,'' he said.
    "You understand well enough what slavery is, but freedom you have never experienced, so you do not know if it tastes sweet or bitter. If you ever did come to experience it, you would advise us to fight for it not with spears only, but with axes too." - Herodotus

    https://consolationofreading.wordpress.com/ - my book blog!
    Feed the Hungry!

  7. #7
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Belo Horizonte- Brasil
    Posts
    3,309
    Quote Originally Posted by echou View Post
    I need to give a presentation on Harold Bloom and his theories for a grade 12 english presentation.
    Western Canon is when he was getting senile, not much good for theory, but really, it does not help much if you find his text difficulty. His references are Freud, Jewish texts, Shakespeare... Perhaps the book about Shakespeare is the easier way, since Bloom ends making Shakespeare the center of the universe...

  8. #8
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Posts
    102
    Quote Originally Posted by JCamilo View Post
    Western Canon is when he was getting senile, not much good for theory, but really, it does not help much if you find his text difficulty. His references are Freud, Jewish texts, Shakespeare... Perhaps the book about Shakespeare is the easier way, since Bloom ends making Shakespeare the center of the universe...
    jcamilo, i would be interested in your opinion after you finish Western Cannon. If you decide to read, you will indeed be an expert on Harold Bloom and likely on a lot of other things as well.

  9. #9
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Belo Horizonte- Brasil
    Posts
    3,309
    I have read it already, but really, it barelly touches Bloom theories. It is more a couple of essays where he gives his opinion guided for his notion of literature. Bloom excells at some authors, it is not that good with a few others.

    Western Cannon does not make anyone an specialist even on Bloom. It is too generic, more like a small encyclopedia about a handfull of relevant authors. The english writers and Proust are his domain, so those are the best texts. He knows what he talks about. But when he goes out of it (Tolstoy for example, I think his anti-Dostoieviskian is too blatant to make a good view of the russians of XIX century. It is pretty obvious it is a way to adjust russian literature view on the Shakespearean's anxiety) he is not that good.

  10. #10
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Posts
    102
    Jcamilo maybe we r reading different western canons. Bloom is a great admirer of Dostoevfsky.

  11. #11
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Belo Horizonte- Brasil
    Posts
    3,309
    No, he is not a great admirer. If he was, he would have split the chapter between Tolstoy and Dostoievisky, because in the end, that is XIX russian literature second half. He cannt deny Dostoievisky, but just like Poe, he does not upheld him (specially because Dostoievisky make Freud useless in terms of literary merit to explain the psychological twist of XX century novels).
    He is a great admirer of Proust, Shakespeare, Dickinson, Wordsworth... but Dostoievisky? He reckonizes the genius but cannt touch it with a stick.

  12. #12
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Posts
    3,093
    Quote Originally Posted by JCamilo View Post
    Western Canon is when he was getting senile...
    Do you have a reference to this medical diagnosis?

    Just ignore these "it's a bad book" comments, echou. It's a well respected book, just look at the quotes from the luminaries on the cover! And as you are doing it in class your teacher must like it... he won't appreciate it if you put in a paper saying "Bloom is senile...", that's a guaranteed F...

    It must be quite hard going for a 12th grader, though. Just think of it as one of your hardest textbooks and go through it *slowly*. Post questions here on each point you get stuck on.

  13. #13
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Belo Horizonte- Brasil
    Posts
    3,309
    Yes, it is called white hair.

    You are seriously ignoring comentaries in the cover means square rat-***? It is just commun editiorial process to select friends to do it. It is not a text book, academic book, it is just a book, not deep or special.

  14. #14
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Posts
    67
    'Senile' is an odd word to use, considering the guy has one of the most famous memories in the world. Bloom without question does admire Dostoevsky, though he definitely sees Tolstoy as the greater writer - just as basically every major literary figure has for the past 100+ years.

    Also, of course Bloom rejects Poe! The only people ever not to reject Poe were the French! Have you read Poe? He's the most appalling-jingly-jangly-unintentially hilarious poet in history.

  15. #15
    Bibliophile JBI's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Toronto
    Posts
    6,360
    meh, The book was written in a different context, with the assumption that the "school of resentment" was a coherent movement and would win. In truth, it was just a reformatting of academic writing that sought to bring more things to the table - he saw it as the future, but it didn't stick. By 2010 it would seem that though one is able to discuss more things in depth, ultimately literary readings are far more along the lines of Bloom than people would imagine.

    As for the influence of the book though, people totally misread it when it was written, and now read it and think it applies to today's context, when even Bloom has moved beyond it. Yet there are still Bloom-idolaters amongst us who cannot fathom a world without the school of resentment fighting against everything good and pure about literature.

Page 1 of 6 123456 LastLast

Similar Threads

  1. On Tackling Bloom's Western Canon
    By milktea in forum General Literature
    Replies: 77
    Last Post: 01-23-2013, 02:54 PM
  2. How do you choose which 'Western Canon' books or classics to read?
    By TurquoiseSunset in forum General Literature
    Replies: 45
    Last Post: 05-17-2010, 12:42 AM
  3. In defence of the cannon
    By LitNetIsGreat in forum General Literature
    Replies: 77
    Last Post: 02-27-2009, 03:00 AM
  4. Replies: 13
    Last Post: 05-14-2008, 11:27 PM

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •