This reminds me of a short passage from Haruki Murkami's Norwegian Wood: “It’s not that I don’t believe in contemporary literature,” he added, “but I don’t want to waste valuable time reading any book that has not had the baptism of time. Life is too short.” And later on: "If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking."
Both classics and contemporary literature are important. If you focus on one and ignore the other, you'll be narrow-minded. It's like studying history without caring about current events. Why look at the past if not to better understand the present? (Sorry for the mistakes, English is not my first language)
This quote from Stoner (which I read because of this channel and is now probably my favorite book) comes to mind: "Sometimes, immersed in his books, there would come to him the awareness of all that he did not know, of all that he had not read; and the serenity for which he labored was shattered as he realized the little time he had in life to read so much, to learn what he had to know."
Yeah it gets horrible, i pushed myself to reading 250 books a year (taking notes and paying attention tho, i have a lot of free time), but the more you read the more new authors you discover and the more random hidden literature you want to get into and so it's like the more i'm reading the less well-read i'm feeling lol
@@HugaHoodie95 woooo 250 that is really good ❤️❤️❤️❤️ how to absolve so much information ? When the book is really good I spend a week or more thinking about it. 😂😂😂😂😂 I have a long way to go people
its truly simple just delete your backlog and after that type down 10 titles you really want to read and just read them after you finish those try to come up with another 10 titles
In my opinion, you Cliff, also have a great ability to communicate what is so great and important about the books you review. What you do is very admirable, and I appreciate you for your hard work.
I read his Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, where he goes through and talks about every play by Shakespeare and what it means to him. It was a complete delight.
Love the classics. I just finished War & Peace the other day after starting it at the beginning of the pandemic and it really moved me in a deeply profound way. I feel like a different person after reading it. More grateful with what I have in life. Despite being 1200 pages I already want to reread it.
Pynchon, while intimidating, is definitely worth a go. "The Crying of Lot 49" is a short, fun romp that gives you a good idea of Pynchon's style. I'm about to start "Inherent Vice", which a ton of people recommended to me as the most accessible of Pynchon's works. "Gravity's Rainbow" is sitting on my shelf and staring me down every day. I'll get around to it eventually.
Don't hesitate, Gravity's Rainbow is one of my favorite books, and even if I didn't get everything the first time, I really enjoyed. I've already planned to reread.
There's definitely reasons to hate the book but if you get through the first part the rest of it has this perverse charm where you just have to sit in awe of the stuff that he manages to do.
@Jack Clare Your not even wrong, but it's not like it is depraved for no reason. Every single sadistic thing that happens in the book builds on the themes. But like I said, if thats not your thing it's a valid reason to not like it.
"Because he is able to illuminate what is so important about these books. And when you have somebody who can do that, when you have somebody that valuable.. they're worth their weight in gold." That is You, for all of us. I appreciate you.
@@misquotedbuffalo3757 The Crossing is Cormac's most underrated work, no question. It's a eulogy for the American Western as a literary genre, and at the same time a somber love letter to storytelling in general. The passage where Billy holds the dead wolf's head in hands is on par with anything he's written
@@efleishermedia I'd argue that it is his best work. I know Blood Meridian get all the praise, and rightfully so... it's brilliant. But The Crossing is on another level for me. It's just perfect.
“who hurt you, man?”😂 well, I enjoyed Infinite jest- but I also love Bloom. He also hates Poe (my favorite author, but I forgive him). in fact I’ve been using his essays as supplementary material for my readings for some time now. How about some Camille Paglia, mr Sargent? :)
Thanks for stopping by! The Poe thing is weird, right? The Cask of Amontillado is one of my favorite short stories. Absolutely more Paglia - Thanks for the suggestion. I'd love to review Sexual Personae but I imagine it's going to take some time - It's huge.
Camille was a disciple of Bloom’s at Yale (in fact he helped her throughout the writing process of Sexual personae) - for some reason I skipped your “break, blow, burn” review; I’ll check that out :) (I also think “the pit and the pendulum” is a work of genius, but, anyway...)
I'm wondering if Bloom was full of himself. too many books i deem good to great and he labels trash. No i don't mean Harry Potter, yes that is fun and fine fiction its not literature and it doesn't pretend to be, but labeling Poe bad? WTF
Hi, Cliff! I really appreciate what you're doing with the channel. You treat, and i believe it's the right way of doing it, literature as a starting point for a discussion. In these days that's what we need the most!
I’m a new father and don’t make time to read like I used to. Your channel inspires me to pick up books, and your recommendation of Cormac McCarthy has changed the way I regard literature forever. Needless to say, another Blood Meridian review would be thoroughly enjoyed.
Thanks for posting this. I think something that kept me from reading before I decided to read most of the classics in literature, philosophy, and poetry was because there was too much stuff out there. But now that I’ve been able to to narrow it down to about 300-350 works, my journey can begin. I agree, everytime I finish one of these works, I’m left a much more rounded person. Like I understand people and the human condition a little better, a little deeper. The knowledge, love, wisdom, beauty, and virtue in these works do stand the test of time. I’m not intimidated by the nearly infinite amount of books out there, since I’m intent on only reading the classics. Same when it comes to music and visual arts.
I own Bloom's book "Genius" and, being from Portugal, I was curious about what he wrote on Eça de Queiroz, and the way he hyped the book "The Relic", one his least read books here, made me buy it and currently loving it. I think Bloom's sentiment can be expressed through this excerpt from Thoreau: "Men sometimes speaks as if the study of the classics would at length make way for more modern and practical studies; but the adventurous student will always study classics, in whatever language they may be written, and however ancient they may be. For what are the classics but the noblest recorded thoughts of men? They are the only oracles which are not decayed. To read well - that is, to read true books in a true spirit - is a noble exercise, and one that will task the reader more than any exercise which the customs of the day esteem. Books must be read as deliberately and reservedly as they were written."
I have read a lot of Bloom, but I still have to get to this one (right on my end table). He is a presence that I miss and consider every time I go back to the classics!
The education of a lifetime. Exactly! I discovered Bloom last year. I'm in my fifties and I feel in desperate need of a decent education before I cast off this mortal coil but where to turn? Who would be Virgil to my Dante? Thankfully I discovered Bloom and do not have to wander alone in dark woods. Also, what better task to set oneself during this period of increased time with only one's own company than to become great friends with some of the greatest minds of all time?
i think this book is a absolute gem. I have read 6 of the books he recommended now; Diary of a hunter, Hamlet (x5 times now, read it twice in highschool), crime and punishment, Bergtagen, Swanns Way and blood meridian. All of these are books that i could read on repeat for the rest of my life.
You ARE the kind of man that you described here, concerning influential people, books, and reading. You're a major influence in the literary world. I appreciate you so much.
I have found with stubborn friends that Tennyson is often a gateway drug to poetry. I recommend spending time with a work. "Ulysses" is powerful, especially when he begins to comment on old age. "Break, Break, Break" likewise is very thought provoking. The barrier to entry with poetry, I am convinced, is work. Multiple readings. Reading it out loud. Wrestling with it. Finally, mastering it. It is worth the effort. Thanks for the video. Because of you, I've read both "Stoner" and "The Peregrine" in the last month.
There is another beautiful soul as great as Bloom if not greater. George Steiner is his name and I can super recommend Tolstoy or Dostoevsky of his or you can watch some amazing material like Of Beauty & Consolation on youtube. In the age of everything-is-relevant and your merit is defined by your identity group and not your actual artistic value, Harold Bloom is more important than ever. Great video, thank you.
I have been trying to teach myself how to read, understand and enjoy poetry for a few years now. It has been very slow going, but I have managed to make small gains and in doing so I have opened my world up to W.B Yeats who I absolutely love. I have also learned that I'm not meant to love every poet's work. It either speaks to you or it doesn't, which makes it very special when you find a piece of poetry that does. I've had to source out a lot of supplementary material to help me along the way. Thankfully, there is no shortage of this material on the internet. I am currently struggling with T.S. Eliot which I am finding very difficult but I certainly understand more of it now then I did when I first started. I feel like it has been time well spent and I'm pretty sure that teaching myself to enjoy poetry will be something I will work on for the rest of my life. I expect it will just unfold one little bit at a time.
Also, I would LOVE a re-review of Blood Meridian! I've read it 4 times and I just believe it's a book with infinite possibilities for discussion. It's cryptic without being opaque, I just love the concepts that are brought up around the campfire lol. I vote yes for a re-read and re-review :)
I think your channel is great, man. Thanks a lot, so freaking inspiring. I love Bloom, by the way. I read this one, How to read and why, like 15 years ago, back in Cuba, in Spanish, I really loved it, still do. Thanks again for your work and passion.
Love the review! You should definitely re read Blood Meridian brother, it is so worth seeing how much better the book has become with time. I think throughout my reading "career" I could say reading is a skill that everyone should develop and experience. When you can see/feel how far you've come, how much better you can comprehend material, how your memory gets clearer when trying to remember what you just read, how expansive your imagination becomes, its real humbling to know that the human experience is so vast and infectious, molding and changing, rigid and stone cold, high and low. What is truth just becomes one color in a palate. And communities like the one you have made is such a perfect place to bring such vastness to a digestible place and truly I thank you Cliff, keep doing you man!
Bloom actually seemed pretty down to Earth for a literary critic. I gotta respect him for arguing that classic books should not be subjected to modern analyses and standards. Usually I tend to think that high caliber critics are just kind of full of themselves, but I actually do value some of Bloom's contributions.
I like his literary criticism on some English-speaking authors, but his whole rant on the "school of resentment" was really shallow and pretentious. although I think he is accurate in describing many young people disinterested in real theory that use mutilations of serious authors out of context to project their resentment (this is specially common in undergraduate universities), when you step out of this landscape and dive deep into the real theoretical debate you realize that there are lots of grave errors and misreading. in a sense he is like Chomsky. he made great contributions in popularizing certain concepts, authors and thoughts, and also by producing an extensive body of work; on the other hand, he made a disservice by spreading misconceptions about many things because of his stubbornness and incapability - or simple unwillingness, I don't know and don't care - to study more complex philosophies. mind you I haven't read nearly 1/3 of what he wrote, but I'm sure he has written great books on topics other than contemporary philosophy. Richard Rorty responded to this term he coined and made a similar critique. worth reading.
Nah. I think that Bloom's "school of resentment" is really lazy thinking. It's as if he was afraid of new ideas and wanted to shut down discourse he didn't like.
I like what you said about comprehension and rereading. I've reread all of my favorite books multiple times. When it comes to R. A. Lafferty I'm not sure I tick the comprehension box all the time, but I definitely reread every one of his stories or books.
Great to hear about you reading Pynchon! With you being one of my favorite reviewers and him one of my favorite writers, I'd always hoped for you two to intersect some day. I would wholeheartedly recommend the Pynchon in Public podcast as a companionpiece to GR. They do chapter by chapter commentary and discussion on his novels, one novel per season, and they are funny and entertaining as well as insightful. I could have never made sense of the last twenty-or-so pages (now my favorite part of the book) if I hadn't listened to the brilliant discussion they held about that ending. Absolutely recommended.
Weisenburger's companion to Gravity's Rainbow is immensely helpful for the little references and backtracks he does. There are so many connections made between the obscure references that no one would ever get without it being pointed out. Especially in the beginning sections where it establishes a bunch of obscure mystic and scientific symbols that pop up all the time. I'll have to check out the podcast since I've been rereading it now.
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I have one thing to say : You are my Harold Bloom ! For the last few years you have been a literary mentor, and I hope you continue to be so ! ❤😁
i appreciate your comments - but it would be interesting to understand, say, what are the various ways that Bloom would grade papers. what are teachers looking for in these English Lit papers? I hear a bit about aesthetics from Bloom -- is that the appropriate focus? Which aesthetics? There's a lot there - but so little is explained to the average, neophyte, student. It's all pretty ethereal. that's why most students don't study this stuff: they can't figure out what they are supposed to do. What is good English lit paper, what is not.
Now I am reading Suttree. McCarthy is really intense to read. I burst out laughing when you made that voice, man. Regarding mentors who inspire, you make the list. Great insights, as always
Man, I hope you read Miss Lonelyhearts, it’s a gem. A perfect, little masterpiece. Just read it again for the sixth time a few weeks ago. Also, hope you do another review of Blood Meridian!
I’m quite interested in checking out this book, though I am already finding quite some things I don’t agree with and will have to check it out myself to determine that better! But that’s beside the point: I’m in an interesting place as a reader where I spent 4 years studying comparative literature while also working as a literacy mentor at elementary schools where I worked directly with struggling readers. I’m studying to be an English teacher now (most likely middle school) and I’m in an interesting place when it comes to pedagogy behind K-12 education. Because in my literacy methods classes we discuss how we can encourage this aesthetic love of reading in kids, especially kids who struggle. For anyone who wants to rethink who they are as readers: spend some time with a child just learning to read. It.Is.Difficult. The more i delve into learning how children read, how we teach reading, the more I have reflected on my own reading and how understandable it is that without good support children can give it up all together and become adults who refuse to read for their own. As adults when we read there are so many steps we take that children have to be taught explicitly. And teaching children to be deep readers comes from adults who teach them and model for them that reading is more than just doing it to make teachers happy or pass a standardised exam (gotta love the post No Child Left Behind era ...). I 100% think that children deserve quality books!! But I also genuinely believe that literary canons should be critiqued especially when we are pushing Eurocentric literature to children who do not relate to these experiences (I myself as a Latina who was an avid reader as a kid, found it hard to enjoy or relate to a lot of what we read in school, even if it was okay literature). Of course, we need to teach kids to be prepared for the world and the systems they’ll have to be a part of (those darn exams ...) but also, exposing kids (and ourselves) to more than just European centered narratives. I love your review of this book and I have to check it out myself, see what I can learn from it for myself mostly, but I also think back to how a lot of what I read has my students in mind and how to get them to read with intention and love reading which let me tell ya is not always easy to do especially with kids who struggle 😅 but yeah, valuing reading as adults definitely helps kids value reading as well! And I think this book will make for an interesting reflection on what we teach in schools and why. I was lucky to be raised a bookworm and writer , who went on to study literature and read some impressive, heady things. But now as an educator to very young people, it’s interesting to come back to earth for a little and think about how we read as normal people and not Uni professors , and that watching my 8th graders read graphic novels and such with joy and all the discussions we can make from new books written with diversity in mind - it makes all this work very worth it :)
If you're looking for some discussion and recapitulations on GR, over at the Thomas Pynchon subreddit we're doing a group read. We're halfway through Part 3, and every week we've been doing analysis and discussions for about 3-5 sections.
I would love to see you review Hamlet, Macbeth or King Lear! Also, if you want to get into poetry more, check out the original 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass! There's a great Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition of it with an intro by Bloom. I'll send it to you if I have to!
Your take on Wallace is hilarious. I feel the same way about him. Btw love how this video is dedicated to the classics. Unfashionable to defend them, these days especially, but crucial. Some classics are better than others and probably some books considered classics shouldn’t be considered. But classics are important. The canon is important. Though, that being said, i believe we should always assess the canon and what qualifies as a canonical book.
A young novelist he loved in his last years (along with the other living novelists Pynchon, McCarthy, DeLillo, and Crowley) was the writer Joshua Cohen, and especially his novel Book of Numbers. He considered it one of the best books for our time.
Man, Im so glad about this review, Cliff! Ive been skimming through Blooms "Western Canon" every now and then. You might also like it, in the end there is an extended reading list ;-)
I think I might just skip straight to the list. I must confess that, though I've always enjoyed listening to Bloom in interviews, I find his writing tedious. It might be different if I'd already read all the Great Lit. he discusses.
Excellent review as always. I agree on your view of poetry. Maybe it only appeals to a different kind of reader. But for me Novels and novels only do the trick. And for Infinite Jest you should give a try maybe. It’s worth the anger and frustration.
I'd say there's a fundemental misunderstanding in that ideology vs. aesthetics argument. For one, identity is not the same as ideology. You don't see people claiming being straight is an ideology, but you do see this conflation happen a lot when people claim there's a 'trans ideology' at work. What Bloom is correct in pointing out is that an author's identity doesn't determine the artwork's quality. But classic masterpieces require a test of time to become part of the hall of greats, so it stands to reason that if we want more diversity in that hall, we need to be made more aware of diverse authors so that we may discover masterpieces we'd otherwise overlook.
I think he explained his distinction between this when he was talking about Alice Walker and Jay Wright, both black artists. He dislikes Walker because he thinks she puts the message of the text before any aesthetic value or technique, whereas the poet, Wright, does the opposite. Both of them pull a lot from African and Black culture but it's the way they choose to do it where the distinction is drawn.
@@ItsVyy Makes more sense. I'd say a balance between the two is needed. Aesthetics without a message is like an empty glass, you can admire its design, but if it's left empty it's not fulfilling much of a purpose. And vice versa, all message and no style is going to feel like being splattered with water with nothing to hold it in xD
Hey man don't worry everyone feels the same way in the middle of Gravity's Rainbow lol. It's a very exhaustive and dense book. I encourage you to continue. Even when I finished I was still quite lost, but it really grows on you, eventually I felt compelled to read it again and it was a huge treat, far easier, and I enjoyed the humor waayy more the second time around. It's hilarious. It's just generally easier to get a grip on it the 2nd time. Pynchon is strange to get into but once you do he's great. You should try Inherent Vice after GR. It's absolutely hilarious and a really great read, far lighter than GR. Looking forward to your thoughts on GR.
As a solid reader for the last ten years I spent about six or seven of them years reading genre fiction. Mainly fantasy and horror. Give credit to yourself and you're channel man because its been you that has introduced me as a reader to some of the best literature I've ever read in the last Three years. Right now I'm reading Suttree and it is something truly special. Keep up the good work man because you're opinion matters on this platform.
One of the best things about this channel is, that the reviews do not kowtow to fashionable opinion, which fairly (or unfairly) dominates the lit. world on social media. Thanks for the integrity!
Thanks for your thoughts on this book! The idea that none of us will come close to even a percentage of reading the best of the best is depressing. But prioritizing the 'best' works, I think, is subjective. Some will take more personal value from reading Shakespeare, whereas others will take more value from reading books about knowledge of practical things, like stock trading or personal development.
I’d love to see you re-review Blood Meridian. It was the first real “literary” (I guess) book I read, and it’s how I found your channel. I also want to re-read it after I go through Moby Dick and Paradise Lost, but that’ll take pretty long time, so another review from you would be great.
Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day To the last syllable of recorded time, And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. Macbeth act 5 scene 5 The last line is, perhaps, the most meaningful: Faulkner said in his Nobel Prize in Literature acceptance speech that people must write about things that come from the heart, "universal truths." Otherwise, they signify nothing.
Interestingly I've had a similar response to Infinite Jest so far; i've picked it up at a book store and skimmed it, read the back cover, heard reviews at one time or other but i still haven't read it, and part of that is the due to the sheer size but most of it is due to it not really sparking my curiosity and sounding pompous and not even in a scholarly way but simply in someone trying their hearts out to be unique and complex kind of way. I can be completely wrong for the record since i haven't read it, might still come ti love it, who knows... that's just the intuition of gotten of it thus far.
Clifford I hope this doesn’t sound ridiculous but when I finished Gravity’s Rainbow for the first time I hid in the bathroom of my shared student house for half an hour genuinely devastated that I’d never have *that experience* of finishing it for the first time ever again. Never has a book before or since had as immediate an impact on me. I signed up for an English Lit MA two days later. I hope it has a similarly significant affect on you. Sometimes Pynchon is a prick and you get through a section that’s like wading through a swamp of impossible references, but he has your back secretly all along.
You should absolutely read Miss Lonelyhearts. It truly is Nathanael West's other masterpiece. I know that you did an excellent review of Day of the Locust, so I think you will dig this book. West is my favorite author.
Been wanting to pick this book up for a while, ever since I read the How to Read a book by Adler and Van Doren. And I agree about poetry. I just didn't understand it. Then I read Eidolans by Walt Whitman and everything changed.
Another review of Blood Meridian would be great. I think Harold Bloom read had read it around thirty times. Equally, The Iliad would be a great review.
One needs patience for poetry, perhaps even imagination. The best and worst part about it, is that it rarely ever reveals everything it paints a picture of.
I think I agree with this. Every poem is like a half-built or decaying structure where the visitor has to project what is missing into the context, thus providing room for a stronger identification with the piece than art forms where all the details are provided by the creator. Nicely put! I think I'll re-read some Auden now!
Have you read Pale Fire? If you are intending to begin in poetry then you should try first Pale Fire's poem. That poem is the best of the best. Literally just read it without the commentary or even the introduction. The poem itself stands for itself and Nabokov was a poet to be reckoned with. The best of the best.
Hey! Love the review, I am definitely looking for this book. I great poet to change your mind about poetry is Carlos Drummond de Andrade. He is the best in this gender in Brazil and I know he was translated to English ;)
Big thanks to Ridge for sending me this wallet and supporting the channel! Here’s the site if you want to check them out! > ridge.com/BETTERTHANFOOD
You seem to just be regurgitating his Book Notes interview with Brian Lamb. Or maybe Lamb is just that good an interviewer.
It's great to see Arthur Shelby turn his life around and dedicate himself to book reviews
Courtesy of the Peaky Blinders.
Peaky fucking blinders!!
Substituted Coffee for Tokyo I see
This reminds me of a short passage from Haruki Murkami's Norwegian Wood:
“It’s not that I don’t believe in contemporary literature,” he added, “but I don’t want to waste valuable time reading any book that has not had the baptism of time. Life is too short.”
And later on:
"If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking."
I got to read that book I just finished Kafka on the shore a few weeks ago.
A bit ironic reading that quote in a "contemporary piece of literature"
Both classics and contemporary literature are important. If you focus on one and ignore the other, you'll be narrow-minded. It's like studying history without caring about current events. Why look at the past if not to better understand the present?
(Sorry for the mistakes, English is not my first language)
Yes and highly ironic coming from Murakami - the author most famous for being acclaimed by people with no thoughts of their own.
Coral Clay great points!
This quote from Stoner (which I read because of this channel and is now probably my favorite book) comes to mind: "Sometimes, immersed in his books, there would come to him the awareness of all that he did not know, of all that he had not read; and the serenity for which he labored was shattered as he realized the little time he had in life to read so much, to learn what he had to know."
Until I get around to reading this, you are my Harold Bloom
This ^^!! Found this channel through the Gravity’s Rainbow review, which finally hyped me up enough to read the book
Been following your channel for a year now. Just wanted to let you know that you are doing great work. Thanks.
Salud! 🥃
Dear solitary readers, please read selfishly, deeply, and creatively. Let's thrive.
This is a powerful comment. Thank you for offering it.
Superb comment!
Doing my part in keeping the art form alive. Books are life
Sometimes I get frustrated, I know I will die without reading everything that I want to read.
So many books; so little time.
I have a shirt that says that! XD
Forge on!.....FORGE ONNNNNNNNN!
Yeah it gets horrible, i pushed myself to reading 250 books a year (taking notes and paying attention tho, i have a lot of free time), but the more you read the more new authors you discover and the more random hidden literature you want to get into and so it's like the more i'm reading the less well-read i'm feeling lol
@@HugaHoodie95 woooo 250 that is really good ❤️❤️❤️❤️ how to absolve so much information ? When the book is really good I spend a week or more thinking about it. 😂😂😂😂😂 I have a long way to go people
its truly simple just delete your backlog and after that type down 10 titles you really want to read and just read them after you finish those try to come up with another 10 titles
In my opinion, you Cliff, also have a great ability to communicate what is so great and important about the books you review. What you do is very admirable, and I appreciate you for your hard work.
I read his Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, where he goes through and talks about every play by Shakespeare and what it means to him. It was a complete delight.
By the way happy Bloomsday mate!
Love the classics. I just finished War & Peace the other day after starting it at the beginning of the pandemic and it really moved me in a deeply profound way. I feel like a different person after reading it. More grateful with what I have in life. Despite being 1200 pages I already want to reread it.
Cody Nunez Like all great works, each re-reading reveals new perspectives or deepens them.
Pynchon, while intimidating, is definitely worth a go. "The Crying of Lot 49" is a short, fun romp that gives you a good idea of Pynchon's style.
I'm about to start "Inherent Vice", which a ton of people recommended to me as the most accessible of Pynchon's works. "Gravity's Rainbow" is sitting on my shelf and staring me down every day. I'll get around to it eventually.
Don't hesitate, Gravity's Rainbow is one of my favorite books, and even if I didn't get everything the first time, I really enjoyed. I've already planned to reread.
@Jack Clare Church!
There's definitely reasons to hate the book but if you get through the first part the rest of it has this perverse charm where you just have to sit in awe of the stuff that he manages to do.
gravity's rainbow is the best book in the english language. it's worth it and it will stay with you forever.
@Jack Clare Your not even wrong, but it's not like it is depraved for no reason. Every single sadistic thing that happens in the book builds on the themes. But like I said, if thats not your thing it's a valid reason to not like it.
"Because he is able to illuminate what is so important about these books. And when you have somebody who can do that, when you have somebody that valuable.. they're worth their weight in gold." That is You, for all of us. I appreciate you.
Exactly!
To love is to discriminate deeply. Thank God Bloom loved literature.
P.S. I'd love to see a re-review of Blood Meridian.
Lovely idea. The first review was the Kid. So now, we need a review by the Man. I think he should re-review 2666 as well.
I see the words Blood Meridian and my heart trips. That book. It needs to be retouched here by Cliff
Or a review one of the border trilogy books by McCarthy
@@misquotedbuffalo3757 The Crossing is Cormac's most underrated work, no question.
It's a eulogy for the American Western as a literary genre, and at the same time a somber love letter to storytelling in general.
The passage where Billy holds the dead wolf's head in hands is on par with anything he's written
@@efleishermedia I'd argue that it is his best work. I know Blood Meridian get all the praise, and rightfully so... it's brilliant. But The Crossing is on another level for me. It's just perfect.
I bought a Harold Bloom book online. Hamlet: Poem Unlimited. The book I received is actually signed by Harold Bloom.
“who hurt you, man?”😂
well, I enjoyed Infinite jest- but I also love Bloom. He also hates Poe (my favorite author, but I forgive him). in fact I’ve been using his essays as supplementary material for my readings for some time now.
How about some Camille Paglia, mr Sargent?
:)
Thanks for stopping by!
The Poe thing is weird, right? The Cask of Amontillado is one of my favorite short stories. Absolutely more Paglia - Thanks for the suggestion. I'd love to review Sexual Personae but I imagine it's going to take some time - It's huge.
Camille was a disciple of Bloom’s at Yale (in fact he helped her throughout the writing process of Sexual personae) - for some reason I skipped your “break, blow, burn” review; I’ll check that out :)
(I also think “the pit and the pendulum” is a work of genius, but, anyway...)
tatianagfeltrin Woah I didn’t know there was a connection, that’s awesome. Thanks!
I'm wondering if Bloom was full of himself. too many books i deem good to great and he labels trash. No i don't mean Harry Potter, yes that is fun and fine fiction its not literature and it doesn't pretend to be, but labeling Poe bad? WTF
Taati! que legal te encontrar aqui :)
as duas pessoas que mais tenho ouvido sobre livros ❤️
vc viu que ele fala de livros brasileiros?
abraço! ;)
Hi, Cliff! I really appreciate what you're doing with the channel. You treat, and i believe it's the right way of doing it, literature as a starting point for a discussion. In these days that's what we need the most!
I’m a new father and don’t make time to read like I used to. Your channel inspires me to pick up books, and your recommendation of Cormac McCarthy has changed the way I regard literature forever. Needless to say, another Blood Meridian review would be thoroughly enjoyed.
Put fatherhood first - don't let Bloom (or this guy) guilt you into neglecting what really matters ... !
Thanks for posting this. I think something that kept me from reading before I decided to read most of the classics in literature, philosophy, and poetry was because there was too much stuff out there. But now that I’ve been able to to narrow it down to about 300-350 works, my journey can begin. I agree, everytime I finish one of these works, I’m left a much more rounded person. Like I understand people and the human condition a little better, a little deeper. The knowledge, love, wisdom, beauty, and virtue in these works do stand the test of time. I’m not intimidated by the nearly infinite amount of books out there, since I’m intent on only reading the classics. Same when it comes to music and visual arts.
I own Bloom's book "Genius" and, being from Portugal, I was curious about what he wrote on Eça de Queiroz, and the way he hyped the book "The Relic", one his least read books here, made me buy it and currently loving it.
I think Bloom's sentiment can be expressed through this excerpt from Thoreau:
"Men sometimes speaks as if the study of the classics would at length make way for more modern and practical studies; but the adventurous student will always study classics, in whatever language they may be written, and however ancient they may be. For what are the classics but the noblest recorded thoughts of men? They are the only oracles which are not decayed. To read well - that is, to read true books in a true spirit - is a noble exercise, and one that will task the reader more than any exercise which the customs of the day esteem. Books must be read as deliberately and reservedly as they were written."
love your content! i was just waiting for a Video on Bloom and another one on George Steiner!!! Greetings from Brazil!!!
Great review! I would love to see a rereview of Blood Meridian.
Glad to hear that you are FINALLY reading Gravity's Rainbow. I'm due for a reread myself. I've been reading Pynchon since the Carter presidency.
Great video Cliff! I'd love to see a re-review of Blood Meridian.
My favorite book.
Oh the irony, I rely on the tirany of the visual to quench my thirst for the written (word). Your passion for literature is contagious. May it spread.
I have read a lot of Bloom, but I still have to get to this one (right on my end table). He is a presence that I miss and consider every time I go back to the classics!
The education of a lifetime. Exactly! I discovered Bloom last year. I'm in my fifties and I feel in desperate need of a decent education before I cast off this mortal coil but where to turn? Who would be Virgil to my Dante? Thankfully I discovered Bloom and do not have to wander alone in dark woods. Also, what better task to set oneself during this period of increased time with only one's own company than to become great friends with some of the greatest minds of all time?
i think this book is a absolute gem. I have read 6 of the books he recommended now; Diary of a hunter, Hamlet (x5 times now, read it twice in highschool), crime and punishment, Bergtagen, Swanns Way and blood meridian. All of these are books that i could read on repeat for the rest of my life.
Long time fan of Harold Bloom, so glad to see that you've come around to his works and thoughts.
Me too. He's the thinking person's critic
You ARE the kind of man that you described here, concerning influential people, books, and reading. You're a major influence in the literary world. I appreciate you so much.
“Shakespeare reads you..” - I like that.
Also- I’m starting a channel exploring poetry from great women poets - might stir your love😉
I have found with stubborn friends that Tennyson is often a gateway drug to poetry. I recommend spending time with a work. "Ulysses" is powerful, especially when he begins to comment on old age. "Break, Break, Break" likewise is very thought provoking. The barrier to entry with poetry, I am convinced, is work. Multiple readings. Reading it out loud. Wrestling with it. Finally, mastering it. It is worth the effort. Thanks for the video. Because of you, I've read both "Stoner" and "The Peregrine" in the last month.
There is another beautiful soul as great as Bloom if not greater. George Steiner is his name and I can super recommend Tolstoy or Dostoevsky of his or you can watch some amazing material like Of Beauty & Consolation on youtube. In the age of everything-is-relevant and your merit is defined by your identity group and not your actual artistic value, Harold Bloom is more important than ever. Great video, thank you.
YESSSS please rereview Blood Meridian. That's the book review from BTF that made me interested in reading actual literature.
I have been trying to teach myself how to read, understand and enjoy poetry for a few years now. It has been very slow going, but I have managed to make small gains and in doing so I have opened my world up to W.B Yeats who I absolutely love. I have also learned that I'm not meant to love every poet's work. It either speaks to you or it doesn't, which makes it very special when you find a piece of poetry that does. I've had to source out a lot of supplementary material to help me along the way. Thankfully, there is no shortage of this material on the internet. I am currently struggling with T.S. Eliot which I am finding very difficult but I certainly understand more of it now then I did when I first started. I feel like it has been time well spent and I'm pretty sure that teaching myself to enjoy poetry will be something I will work on for the rest of my life. I expect it will just unfold one little bit at a time.
Also, I would LOVE a re-review of Blood Meridian! I've read it 4 times and I just believe it's a book with infinite possibilities for discussion. It's cryptic without being opaque, I just love the concepts that are brought up around the campfire lol. I vote yes for a re-read and re-review :)
I feel that there are a lot of booktubers but they usually read best sellers and random stuff. You really read and review great literature. Thanks!
I think your channel is great, man. Thanks a lot, so freaking inspiring. I love Bloom, by the way. I read this one, How to read and why, like 15 years ago, back in Cuba, in Spanish, I really loved it, still do. Thanks again for your work and passion.
Love the review! You should definitely re read Blood Meridian brother, it is so worth seeing how much better the book has become with time. I think throughout my reading "career" I could say reading is a skill that everyone should develop and experience. When you can see/feel how far you've come, how much better you can comprehend material, how your memory gets clearer when trying to remember what you just read, how expansive your imagination becomes, its real humbling to know that the human experience is so vast and infectious, molding and changing, rigid and stone cold, high and low. What is truth just becomes one color in a palate. And communities like the one you have made is such a perfect place to bring such vastness to a digestible place and truly I thank you Cliff, keep doing you man!
Bloom actually seemed pretty down to Earth for a literary critic. I gotta respect him for arguing that classic books should not be subjected to modern analyses and standards. Usually I tend to think that high caliber critics are just kind of full of themselves, but I actually do value some of Bloom's contributions.
I like his literary criticism on some English-speaking authors, but his whole rant on the "school of resentment" was really shallow and pretentious. although I think he is accurate in describing many young people disinterested in real theory that use mutilations of serious authors out of context to project their resentment (this is specially common in undergraduate universities), when you step out of this landscape and dive deep into the real theoretical debate you realize that there are lots of grave errors and misreading.
in a sense he is like Chomsky. he made great contributions in popularizing certain concepts, authors and thoughts, and also by producing an extensive body of work; on the other hand, he made a disservice by spreading misconceptions about many things because of his stubbornness and incapability - or simple unwillingness, I don't know and don't care - to study more complex philosophies.
mind you I haven't read nearly 1/3 of what he wrote, but I'm sure he has written great books on topics other than contemporary philosophy. Richard Rorty responded to this term he coined and made a similar critique. worth reading.
Nah. I think that Bloom's "school of resentment" is really lazy thinking. It's as if he was afraid of new ideas and wanted to shut down discourse he didn't like.
You've convinced me to read about reading. Thank you.
I love Harold Bloom! Definitely one of the smartest men to ever walk. Do read up on his adoration of Freud!
Does adoring Freud make you intelligent?
Yes
I like what you said about comprehension and rereading. I've reread all of my favorite books multiple times. When it comes to R. A. Lafferty I'm not sure I tick the comprehension box all the time, but I definitely reread every one of his stories or books.
Great to hear about you reading Pynchon! With you being one of my favorite reviewers and him one of my favorite writers, I'd always hoped for you two to intersect some day.
I would wholeheartedly recommend the Pynchon in Public podcast as a companionpiece to GR. They do chapter by chapter commentary and discussion on his novels, one novel per season, and they are funny and entertaining as well as insightful. I could have never made sense of the last twenty-or-so pages (now my favorite part of the book) if I hadn't listened to the brilliant discussion they held about that ending. Absolutely recommended.
Weisenburger's companion to Gravity's Rainbow is immensely helpful for the little references and backtracks he does. There are so many connections made between the obscure references that no one would ever get without it being pointed out. Especially in the beginning sections where it establishes a bunch of obscure mystic and scientific symbols that pop up all the time.
I'll have to check out the podcast since I've been rereading it now.
I have one thing to say : You are my Harold Bloom ! For the last few years you have been a literary mentor, and I hope you continue to be so ! ❤😁
i appreciate your comments - but it would be interesting to understand, say, what are the various ways that Bloom would grade papers. what are teachers looking for in these English Lit papers? I hear a bit about aesthetics from Bloom -- is that the appropriate focus? Which aesthetics? There's a lot there - but so little is explained to the average, neophyte, student. It's all pretty ethereal. that's why most students don't study this stuff: they can't figure out what they are supposed to do. What is good English lit paper, what is not.
Is this comparable to “How to Read a Book” by Mortimer Adler? I found a lot of value in that book.
Great video. Harold Bloom has helped so much in reading literature. I’m reading his Shakespeare: Invention of the Human” right now
Please go over Blood Meridian once more.
Now I am reading Suttree. McCarthy is really intense to read. I burst out laughing when you made that voice, man. Regarding mentors who inspire, you make the list. Great insights, as always
Thanks as always for your great Work Cliff.
Man, I hope you read Miss Lonelyhearts, it’s a gem. A perfect, little masterpiece. Just read it again for the sixth time a few weeks ago. Also, hope you do another review of Blood Meridian!
I needed to hear this message. Thank you!
I’m quite interested in checking out this book, though I am already finding quite some things I don’t agree with and will have to check it out myself to determine that better! But that’s beside the point:
I’m in an interesting place as a reader where I spent 4 years studying comparative literature while also working as a literacy mentor at elementary schools where I worked directly with struggling readers. I’m studying to be an English teacher now (most likely middle school) and I’m in an interesting place when it comes to pedagogy behind K-12 education. Because in my literacy methods classes we discuss how we can encourage this aesthetic love of reading in kids, especially kids who struggle. For anyone who wants to rethink who they are as readers: spend some time with a child just learning to read. It.Is.Difficult. The more i delve into learning how children read, how we teach reading, the more I have reflected on my own reading and how understandable it is that without good support children can give it up all together and become adults who refuse to read for their own.
As adults when we read there are so many steps we take that children have to be taught explicitly. And teaching children to be deep readers comes from adults who teach them and model for them that reading is more than just doing it to make teachers happy or pass a standardised exam (gotta love the post No Child Left Behind era ...). I 100% think that children deserve quality books!! But I also genuinely believe that literary canons should be critiqued especially when we are pushing Eurocentric literature to children who do not relate to these experiences (I myself as a Latina who was an avid reader as a kid, found it hard to enjoy or relate to a lot of what we read in school, even if it was okay literature). Of course, we need to teach kids to be prepared for the world and the systems they’ll have to be a part of (those darn exams ...) but also, exposing kids (and ourselves) to more than just European centered narratives. I love your review of this book and I have to check it out myself, see what I can learn from it for myself mostly, but I also think back to how a lot of what I read has my students in mind and how to get them to read with intention and love reading which let me tell ya is not always easy to do especially with kids who struggle 😅 but yeah, valuing reading as adults definitely helps kids value reading as well! And I think this book will make for an interesting reflection on what we teach in schools and why. I was lucky to be raised a bookworm and writer , who went on to study literature and read some impressive, heady things. But now as an educator to very young people, it’s interesting to come back to earth for a little and think about how we read as normal people and not Uni professors , and that watching my 8th graders read graphic novels and such with joy and all the discussions we can make from new books written with diversity in mind - it makes all this work very worth it :)
As I Lay Dying was like a punch in the stomach, I'd love your review of this one!
As a huge Pynchon fan (and DFW for that matter) , I highly suggest Mason & Dixon , its probably my favorite Pynchon novel.
Great content. Thanks for all the hard work!
FWIW, would love to see an expanded re-review of Blood Meridian.
Cheers.
Very sincere and informative stuff.....keep it coming!
Mr Arthur Shelby, loved your video. Kudos👍🏻👍🏻
If you're looking for some discussion and recapitulations on GR, over at the Thomas Pynchon subreddit we're doing a group read. We're halfway through Part 3, and every week we've been doing analysis and discussions for about 3-5 sections.
Absolute amazing video! Thankyou!
I would love to see you review Hamlet, Macbeth or King Lear!
Also, if you want to get into poetry more, check out the original 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass! There's a great Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition of it with an intro by Bloom. I'll send it to you if I have to!
Your take on Wallace is hilarious. I feel the same way about him. Btw love how this video is dedicated to the classics. Unfashionable to defend them, these days especially, but crucial. Some classics are better than others and probably some books considered classics shouldn’t be considered. But classics are important. The canon is important. Though, that being said, i believe we should always assess the canon and what qualifies as a canonical book.
I've only read his book of essays. something did touch him though, the man was deeply troubled.
A young novelist he loved in his last years (along with the other living novelists Pynchon, McCarthy, DeLillo, and Crowley) was the writer Joshua Cohen, and especially his novel Book of Numbers. He considered it one of the best books for our time.
Man, Im so glad about this review, Cliff! Ive been skimming through Blooms "Western Canon" every now and then. You might also like it, in the end there is an extended reading list ;-)
I think I might just skip straight to the list. I must confess that, though I've always enjoyed listening to Bloom in interviews, I find his writing tedious. It might be different if I'd already read all the Great Lit. he discusses.
Excellent review as always. I agree on your view of poetry. Maybe it only appeals to a different kind of reader. But for me Novels and novels only do the trick. And for Infinite Jest you should give a try maybe. It’s worth the anger and frustration.
Very well done sir!!!!
I'd say there's a fundemental misunderstanding in that ideology vs. aesthetics argument. For one, identity is not the same as ideology. You don't see people claiming being straight is an ideology, but you do see this conflation happen a lot when people claim there's a 'trans ideology' at work. What Bloom is correct in pointing out is that an author's identity doesn't determine the artwork's quality. But classic masterpieces require a test of time to become part of the hall of greats, so it stands to reason that if we want more diversity in that hall, we need to be made more aware of diverse authors so that we may discover masterpieces we'd otherwise overlook.
I think he explained his distinction between this when he was talking about Alice Walker and Jay Wright, both black artists. He dislikes Walker because he thinks she puts the message of the text before any aesthetic value or technique, whereas the poet, Wright, does the opposite. Both of them pull a lot from African and Black culture but it's the way they choose to do it where the distinction is drawn.
@@ItsVyy Makes more sense. I'd say a balance between the two is needed. Aesthetics without a message is like an empty glass, you can admire its design, but if it's left empty it's not fulfilling much of a purpose. And vice versa, all message and no style is going to feel like being splattered with water with nothing to hold it in xD
Just discovered your Channel.
Saw Harold Bloom and clicked immediately.
Amazing work you’re doing mate, looking forward to watching your videos. 🫡
Hey man don't worry everyone feels the same way in the middle of Gravity's Rainbow lol. It's a very exhaustive and dense book. I encourage you to continue. Even when I finished I was still quite lost, but it really grows on you, eventually I felt compelled to read it again and it was a huge treat, far easier, and I enjoyed the humor waayy more the second time around. It's hilarious. It's just generally easier to get a grip on it the 2nd time. Pynchon is strange to get into but once you do he's great. You should try Inherent Vice after GR. It's absolutely hilarious and a really great read, far lighter than GR. Looking forward to your thoughts on GR.
Can you please review works of Hubert Shelby Jr, Philip K Dick and William S. Burroughs?
I liked your shirt! Good talk about the book.
As a solid reader for the last ten years I spent about six or seven of them years reading genre fiction. Mainly fantasy and horror. Give credit to yourself and you're channel man because its been you that has introduced me as a reader to some of the best literature I've ever read in the last Three years. Right now I'm reading Suttree and it is something truly special. Keep up the good work man because you're opinion matters on this platform.
What a sweet and true comment. 😊
One of the best things about this channel is, that the reviews do not kowtow to fashionable opinion, which fairly (or unfairly) dominates the lit. world on social media. Thanks for the integrity!
Thanks for your thoughts on this book! The idea that none of us will come close to even a percentage of reading the best of the best is depressing. But prioritizing the 'best' works, I think, is subjective. Some will take more personal value from reading Shakespeare, whereas others will take more value from reading books about knowledge of practical things, like stock trading or personal development.
I see Amos Tutuola's Palm-Wine Drunkard back there, can't wait to hear your thoughts on that!
The statue... Creepy indeed... Very clever.
Good job!
Great review and points, thanks
I’d love to see you re-review Blood Meridian. It was the first real “literary” (I guess) book I read, and it’s how I found your channel. I also want to re-read it after I go through Moby Dick and Paradise Lost, but that’ll take pretty long time, so another review from you would be great.
Your book reviews make me so happy. Thank you :)
thank you For this cool articulation
Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. Macbeth act 5 scene 5
The last line is, perhaps, the most meaningful: Faulkner said in his Nobel Prize in Literature acceptance speech that people must write about things that come from the heart, "universal truths." Otherwise, they signify nothing.
Interestingly I've had a similar response to Infinite Jest so far; i've picked it up at a book store and skimmed it, read the back cover, heard reviews at one time or other but i still haven't read it, and part of that is the due to the sheer size but most of it is due to it not really sparking my curiosity and sounding pompous and not even in a scholarly way but simply in someone trying their hearts out to be unique and complex kind of way.
I can be completely wrong for the record since i haven't read it, might still come ti love it, who knows... that's just the intuition of gotten of it thus far.
I like how the head moved around as the video rolled on.
Review Milan Kundera! Was surprised to find you haven´t made a vid about any of his stuff before.
love it mate... love it!!!
Based on all of your other reviews... You're gonna love Hamlet man.
Love the channel! Have you ever read any Walker Percy. I’d love to see you review some of his work!
Clifford I hope this doesn’t sound ridiculous but when I finished Gravity’s Rainbow for the first time I hid in the bathroom of my shared student house for half an hour genuinely devastated that I’d never have *that experience* of finishing it for the first time ever again. Never has a book before or since had as immediate an impact on me. I signed up for an English Lit MA two days later. I hope it has a similarly significant affect on you. Sometimes Pynchon is a prick and you get through a section that’s like wading through a swamp of impossible references, but he has your back secretly all along.
You should absolutely read Miss Lonelyhearts. It truly is Nathanael West's other masterpiece. I know that you did an excellent review of Day of the Locust, so I think you will dig this book. West is my favorite author.
Been wanting to pick this book up for a while, ever since I read the How to Read a book by Adler and Van Doren. And I agree about poetry. I just didn't understand it. Then I read Eidolans by Walt Whitman and everything changed.
Sometimes it's a matter of finding the right poet for you to get you started.
Another review of Blood Meridian would be great. I think Harold Bloom read had read it around thirty times. Equally, The Iliad would be a great review.
Thanks, think I might get around to this after reading a few books by Cormac McCarthy
Great video! It was almost a Master Class!
One needs patience for poetry, perhaps even imagination. The best and worst part about it, is that it rarely ever reveals everything it paints a picture of.
I think I agree with this. Every poem is like a half-built or decaying structure where the visitor has to project what is missing into the context, thus providing room for a stronger identification with the piece than art forms where all the details are provided by the creator. Nicely put! I think I'll re-read some Auden now!
Excelent insight. Congrats
Have you read Pale Fire? If you are intending to begin in poetry then you should try first Pale Fire's poem. That poem is the best of the best. Literally just read it without the commentary or even the introduction. The poem itself stands for itself and Nabokov was a poet to be reckoned with. The best of the best.
Hey! Love the review, I am definitely looking for this book. I great poet to change your mind about poetry is Carlos Drummond de Andrade. He is the best in this gender in Brazil and I know he was translated to English ;)
Reading the canon is spending time with genius.