I met Harold Bloom a few times, his wife is my grandmother's dearest friend. He was a kind and interesting man to talk to. Your video does his work a great honor! Keep it up
It's an adorable surprise! I can't believe I found you talking about Harold Bloom. I am a Brazilian learning the English language through poetry. Years ago, I found a book about Shakespeare in my neighborhood. I just opened this book this morning to read it. My first surprise of the day was to realize that the book author is Harold Bloom. Two years ago, I bought the book "The Best Poems of the English Language" and I fell in love with Bloom's passion for English Literature. And now I find you,here, talking about professor Bloom and recommending the book I found in my neighborhood : Shakespeare The Invention of the Human. Sometimes life can just be perfect! I also want to thank you for your incredible work in Literature.
This the only channel that I follow about literature,the other ones are all hipsters with a cup of tea enjoying themselves saying obvious things about books learnt on school. I can see that you instead are very passionate in what you do and you talk about the book themselves and not about other useless things. Great channel,and I like also your accent
Leaf by Leaf Steve Donoghue A Cruel Reader's Thesis Spinster's Library JuanReads There are definitely channels that are not "hipsters drinking tea". Look around. And one even comes with an English accent...if that is a requisite.
Yes, I too have noticed some of the younger dears, bless them, going on and on about the CORRECT way to annotate. They then, very enthusiastically, hold up their books, ADORNED with endless little fluoro sticky notes, in all the colours of the rainbow like ribbons in a milliners shop! Then, to top it all, they have at hand, an equally impressive stack of highlighters, with corresponding colours to suit!🙄 They then proceed to tell you to use pink for this, yellow for that, and so on.... Very tedious indeed and I very much doubt whether actual deep reading takes place. Personally,I think they're missing the point, turning a book into a doodle pad. To each their own, I suppose. Me, I'm rather snuggly propped up in a comfy armchair with only pen in hand.
I am so happy to have discovered your channel. Now that my children are adults, I've been at loose ends about what to do with myself. You've inspired me to brush off my English degree and dive back in the great books.
Hey Wendy, if you are serious about doing that, I thoroughly recommend his Patreon “Hardcore Literature Book Club” … we are doing Don Quixote at the moment - which has only just started. It’s great, with lots of content to help with your reading. It’s also a great group of people.
Thank you, Wendy. I appreciate that so much :) Coming back to the great books can certainly keep one extremely fulfilled, so I'm thoroughly excited for you! And welcome to the Book Club!
@@lenlarsson5630 Thank you, Len :) I really appreciate that, and get so much out of your fantastic comments and responses to the books! I am so excited for Don Quixote. I think it may be the book I've been most looking forward to talking about!
Bravo! This is brilliant! I am a huge Bloom devotee. I also regretted not going to meet him but I sent and received two emails from him which were and continue to be very touching to me. I have printed and put them inside two of his books. Professor Bloom would be proud of your reviews and recommendations! Well done sir!
Wow! You are incredibly fortunate to have such treasures. What a lovely way to keep his emails to you. And thank you - the thought that Professor Bloom would be happy with my reviews warms my heart :)
Our living tradition was in good hands with Harold Bloom. I just bought “The Ringers In The Tower” and I’ve appreciated his insight for years. All the best critics possess their own creative genius.
Your enthusiasm for Bloom is refreshing to me as his interest in great art for great art's sake was refreshing to you. Videos like this make me wish YT would provide us with a "shoebox" in which we could put the videos we MUST view again rather than mark them as ones we merely like and must leave them undistinguished to be lost in the sea of videos we merely like. Your work stands out. Thanks!!!
Just happened across your videos today, as I’m reading Dostoevsky for the first time. What a breath of fresh air they are! And wonderful to see a bloke (only slightly) younger than myself with such admiration for the great Harold Bloom. I only discovered him myself a few years ago; I now return almost weekly to How to Read and Why and the Western Canon; and the Invention of the Human reinvigorated my enthusiasm for Shakespeare, and introduced me to earlier classics like Goddard. Great work, Benjamin!
Exciting video. At age 82, I'm glad I gave up regret as a stupifying and totally counterproductive emotion some time ago, else I'd be wishing I had more time left to read all, or most, of the wonderful books you recommend here and elsewhere. As it is, I'll have to make some hasty decisions. Where to start...? I deplore the tendency of some teachers and critics to reduce art to politics, social justice theory, or psychology. I suspect that Bloom might often feel very akin to me. Listening to some Bloom lectures on UA-cam I've been impressed by a genuine modesty and courteous warmth that remind me of some of my own best teachers. I must say your own outlook reminds me of them, too. Thank you, Mr. McEvoy.
Wonderful video! I have the Western Canon and The Best Poems of the English Language, and I find it very challenging (not a native speaker), but still seeing your enthusiasm on Bloom makes me keep adding his books to my cart. And I truly believe one day I will be able to enjoy his books, which can give me wayyyyy deeper understanding and appreciation on the great books!
Thank you :) Bloom's stuff is hard even for native speakers, and it sounds like you're very enthusiastic yourself - so understanding will follow! The Western Canon and The Best Poems are great ones to have on your shelf!
I just dipped into a bit of Bloom's 'Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human' as I thought it would supplement my understanding of Othello (a book I am studying my a-level). I have to say the chapter on Othello is really quite good. I know this is not necessarily his quote, but Bloom quotes a man called William Hazlitt and it is a fantastic quote - Iago is a man who "stabs men in the dark to prevent ennui".
Wonderful Bloom recommendations! 😊 1. I think the Bloom Guides are a great way into Bloom and the book in question. I would include the Bloom's Modern Critical Views, too, for which he wrote introductions to each of these authors and/or their works (e.g. Shakespeare, Hamlet, Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, Stephen King). There's also Bloom's Classic Critical Views in which the literary critics are predominantly historical literary critics rather than contemporary or modern literary critics. Bloom's introductions in these series are brief but usually thought-provoking even if I don't always agree with him. He's very opinionated, even pugilistic, but the flipside of this is that his opinion on a matter is clear and lucid. 2. Personally, I'd prefer to shy away recommending Bloom's more academic works like The Anxiety of Influence - at least initially. I think these kinds of books tend to bog one down in modern literary debates which, if anything, are more likely to detract than cultivate or contribute to the pleasures of reading the classics; yet my very favorite aspect of Bloom his sheer delight in reading great literature. I think his joy is infectious, and I'd prefer to see that part of Bloom rub off onto people who are first reading Bloom than the academic debates, his underlying literary critical philosophy, the Freudianism, etc. Not saying these things aren't important to consider, but I think they'd be better suited at a later stage in reading Bloom or at least only initially suited for a certain type of person. 3. I have a huge amount of respect and love for Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, but it's a fairly large tome! Hard for the first time reader to get into. Unless they love Shakespeare. Or at least it might be best to read something like the great Shakespeare scholar Stanely Wells's shorter books like William Shakespeare: A Very Short Introduction or Shakespeare's Tragedies or the like, and then read Bloom's Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human. 4. That said, I'd recommend Novelists and Novels by Bloom. Granted, this is also quite a lengthy book, but one need't read the entire book. Rather, read a novel, then read the chapter in this book about the novel you've read. Bloom offers a lot of helpful and insightful information, though they're not necessarily spoiler-free so I'd recommend reading the novel first, unless you don't mind spoilers! Anyway, this is a good book to get to dip into as the need arises. 5. By the way, I likewise love his Bright Book of Life, but I think a lot of it regurgitates material from Bloom's past works like Novelists and Novels. At the same time, though, he does seem to update some of his past opinions with new ones in the Bright Book of Life, though I don't think they're significantly updated, at least not from what I saw, so if one already owns the former Novelists and Novels then it might not be worth picking up the latter Bright Book of Life. At any rate, the Bright Book of Life seems to be a bit of a Duke's mixture of sorts. My preference would be for the earliest Novelists and Novels if one can't read both. 6. Poets and Poems is the poetic counterpart Novelists and Novels. I'd highly recommend this one if you like poetry. 7. I agree with the Western Canon and the American Canon. Both wonderful Bloom books in general. 8. How to Read and Why is, I think, the best introduction to Bloom if one can only read one of his books in his corpus. In fact, I think it's probably the perfect introduction to Bloom. It is relatively short for Bloom (less than 300 pages) and it's got a good mix of Bloom's thoughts on the great novels, short stories, plays, and poems. It's more broad than deep, but it hits all the right notes as one reads. 9. One last thing. I'm of two minds about Bloom's books on the Bible: a. On the one hand, Bloom has a well developed philosophy of aestheticism, and Bloom is highly sensitive in seeing and appreciating the literary beauties of the King James Version of the Bible as well as much of the underyling Hebrew (if I recall correctly, Bloom learned Yiddish and Hebrew before he learned English). He's also quite right about the New Testament not being much of a work of art. In this respect, Bloom echoes the Renaissance scholar C.S. Lewis, most famous for his Narnia books, when Lewis said: "The New Testament in the original Greek is not a work of literary art: it is not written in a solemn, ecclesiastical language, it is written in the sort of Greek which was spoken over the eastern Mediterranean after Greek had become an international language and therefore lost its real beauty and subtlety. In it we see Greek used by people who have no real feeling for Greek words because Greek words are not the words they spoke when they were children. It is a sort of ‘basic’ Greek; a language without roots in the soil, a utilitarian, commercial and administrative language. Does this shock us? It ought not to, except as the Incarnation itself ought to shock us. The same divine humility which decreed that God should become a baby at a peasant-woman’s breast, and later an arrested field-preacher in the hands of the Roman police, decreed also that he should be preaching in a vulgar, prosaic and unliterary language. If you can stomach the one, you can stomach the other. The Incarnation is in that sense an irreverent doctrine: Christianity, in that sense, an incurably irreverent religion. When we expect that it should have come before the Word in all the beauty that we now feel in the Authorized Version we are as wide of the mark as the Jews were in expecting that the Messiah would come as a great earthly king. The real sanctity, the real beauty and sublimity of the New Testament (as of Christ’s life) are of a different sort: miles deeper or further in." By the way, quite interestingly, Bloom met many famous literary people in his life, and one of the earliest literary celebrities Bloom met was C.S. Lewis, which Bloom has written about in his introduction to Bloom's Modern Critical Views on C.S. Lewis. b. On the other hand, I find Bloom bases much if not most of his analysis of the Bible on dated literary theory, viz. documentary hypothesis and its various models (e.g. JEPD theory), which contemporary biblical scholars have moved beyond. Indeed, even what exists today in terms of the documentary hypothesis is more a relic of 19th century to early 20th century biblical scholarship. See, among other people, the late Robert Gottlieb's comments on Bloom, for example. Gottlieb was an almost exact contemporary of Bloom's, just one or two years younger as I remember. Both men were Jewish, though Gottlieb more secular than Bloom; both grew up in NYC, though Gottlieb on the Upper West Side, unlike Bloom who grew up poorer; both attended Ivy League institutions as well as Cambridge University, though Bloom went on to work in academia, whereas Gottlieb decided not to pursue academia and instead became the editor for Simon and Schuster (where he famously discovered Joseph Heller and published Catch-22), Alfred A. Knopf, the New Yorker, and frequently contributed to the New York Times Book Review and others. Sorry, I'm rambling! But anyway, while I highly value Bloom on the aesthetics of the Bible, as well as its literary value in general, I wouldn't put too much stock into anything else Bloom says about the Bible. To be fair, as I've alluded, Bloom is always interesting to read, even or perhaps especially when one disagrees with him! So all in all I still love Bloom and appreciate his literary criticism very much.
Great video! I've read some of Bloom's introductions but never actually had a copy of one of his books. I'm going to keep an eye out for Shakespeare The Invention of the Human.
@@BenjaminMcEvoy I ended up ordering it and I'm going to use it as a companion to trying to read all of Shakespeare's works. (: Much appreciate your reccomendations!
Though I never studied under him in person, I think of Harold Bloom as my favorite professor. I thank him on bended knees for leading me to the eternal spring of great art.
Yes, please keep making videos. I’ve found great value in almost everything you’ve produced. You’ve given me great insights into the world of literature and “How to Read”, even though I’ve been reading for 50+ years 😉. Thank you!
You never cease to educate me and recommend truly amazing works and things to read. I thank you for furthering my understanding and challenging my reading.
Great video! Oh, how I wish I was blessed with the ability to read fast. (I also wish I had your accent.) What I love about Bloom is how much he loves what he reads and he encourages us to love. As soon as one heavily politicizes the work, it gets in the way of enjoying it. It’s fine to point out cringy parts but let’s enjoy the uplifting parts. Thank you for taking the time to make this.
Thank you so much, Jeffrey!! I really appreciate your kind words, my friend :) You've perfectly captured what I appreciate about Bloom too - his love and passion is incredibly infectious ☺️
I have WAY too many Harold Bloom books, and I find them addicting and want to get them all (I'm sure I have 20-30, minimum). That being said, I can't believe the comments are all so positive here and no one is complaining about Bloom. As I said above, I have most of his major books, but God, he could really make me angry at times. I like your own commentary much more than Blooms, Benjamin, but yeah, I certainly see that you are heavily influenced by Bloom and also How to Read, which I probably personally prefer to How to Read and Why in terms of actually educating readers in terms of their appreciation, retention, and overall experience. One of my larger issues with Bloom is how often he repeats himself from book to book, and basically says the same stock phrases about most authors across his books (I don't think I've read any of his pre-1980 books, though, and I've heard that Anxiety of Influence is his best, and certainly one day I will read that), almost like Homer's stock phrases for his heroes in the Iliad/Odyssey ("rosy-fingered dawn," "swift-footed Achilleus," etc.).
I had the greatest opportunity to go to Harold Bloom lectures in New York four times. At that time i only read a few of his book reviews, which Inevitably drew me to his own writings. I am a lover of Shakespeares work since grammar school. Harold Bloom, Shakespeare invention of the human was/is a spectacular read.
No mention of 'Agon'? Well, I can see why, it being a culmination of 'Anxiety of Influence' & 'Map of Misreading' Expanding on those works, he offers a Theory of Revisionism, which he views as a contest of opposing artistic and moral drives (that he applies to various authors). Agon, of course, is derived from 'agony' and 'Agonistes'
I want to hear how hayder likes DQ, too! I'm reading it for the first time at the moment, and I'm about 700 pages in. I'm a very slow reader, and I love to write tons of marginalia, as Benjamin would say, but I'm still enjoying the book a lot more than I thought it would.
Brilliant thank you for this video so much. I have the How to Read and Why but just had to go and get the Shakespeare, the invention of the human. I am also quite keen to get the children’s book one, for myself really. Gradually I will add to my Bloom collection.
I'm glad the children's book is getting some love! I really love that one. Bloom has a nice introduction at the front where he talks about his rationale for his choices and children's education. And you definitely can't go wrong with his writings on Shakespeare!
Enjoyed this, Benjamin. Fyi, Harold Bloom's top 5 works of literary criticism: 'The Greeks and the Irrational' by E.R. Dodds 'European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages' by Ernst Robert Curtius 'The Mirror and the Lamp' by M.H. Abrams 'The Rhetoric of Religion' by Kenneth Burke 'Colors of the Mind' by Angus Fletcher
Your list is great. I'm interested in the Western Canon and the Stories and Poems for extremely intelligent Children of all Ages (whew, what a title!). But the first one you mentioned 'Shakespeare . . ." I like the sound of that, too.
Invention of the Human was my introduction to Bloom, and it absolutely changed my life! Although we don't agree on everything (I mourned his death partly because it was the loss of a great man, but also partly because now I will never be able to meet him and tell him why he was wrong about Falstaff and Coriolanus), he opens up the plays with such love and brilliant insight, and I was moved to tears many times as I read the book. I read Anatomy of Influence earlier this year on a whim because I saw it on the shelves of my local library. He lost me completely for large chunks of the book, but every time I considered skipping bits, he would hit me right between the eyes with an absolutely genius statement on literature, philosophy, or life in general, and I would have to keep reading. 🤣Thanks for this video! I'm excited to Add How to Read and Why and The Bright Book of Life to my reading list!
now I will never be able to meet him and tell him why he was wrong about Falstaff and Coriolanus - could you please elaborate a bit more on on these, sir? I am truly keen on learning.
@@ahmadhasan8355 Love being called "sir," that's a first for me XD But yes, I'd LOVE to elaborate on my pet peeves about Bloom! Falstaff first. Bloom sees Falstaff as a sort of tragic, misunderstood hero who is betrayed by Prince Hal, which is a take on the character that I have never understood. What we actually see in the plays is that Falstaff is an alcoholic and a thief, who seems to have no desire to better himself. At the end of both Henry IV plays, we see Falstaff being given the opportunity to lead a better life, and yet he simply squanders what he is given and never changes. The most astonishing thing about Bloom's opinion is that he believes Falstaff, an old man with a long history of dissolute behavior, was lead astray by Prince Hal, a teenager who is desperately searching for a father figure. To me, it seems clear that the absolute reverse must have been true! It's far more likely that a confused teenager would be enticed into a seedy lifestyle by a charismatic older man than the other way around. What is really rather marvelous about the whole thing is that I think Falstaff himself has tricked Bloom into seeing the version of Falstaff that he would like to project. An amazing feat for a fictional character! As far as Coriolanus is concerned, Bloom rather summarily dismisses him as an essentially "empty" character. This, to me, seems like an incredibly lazy reading of the character for someone with such mental power and insight. Bloom bases his assessment of Coriolanus on the fact that there are no traditional soliloquies to tell us what the character is thinking. However, when I read the play, I found the character an incredibly rich portrayal of a man of great natural kindness and integrity, but whose moral compass and ability to express emotions in a healthy way have both been misshapen by his harsh upbringing, as well as his tendency to base his self-worth on the opinions of the people he looks up to (Volumnia, Menenius, Cominius, etc.). I also think it is a breathtakingly insightful look at PTSD, long before any concept of such a disorder had been formed. From a technical standpoint, I believe Shakespeare had moved beyond the use of soliloquies to tell us directly what a character is thinking. Instead, he was attempting to SHOW us through the character's speech and actions, in a much more modern way than he had previously used. Wow, that got long, even though I was trying to keep it succinct lol. If you actually read all of this, you're a hero. If you didn't, well... Thanks for giving me an excuse to vent, anyway!
Brilliant as always ..thank you Benjamin for these great recommendations ... I love Harold Bloom ... Read his How to Read and Why some years back ...also had to read his The Visionary Company for my research at the University( great book).... These days I am reading his Possessed by Memory and I am already possessed ...
I've been waiting for you making a video featuring Harold Bloom. Thank you very much! I read only 'How to Read and Why' and 'Anxiety of Influence'. 'How to Read and Why' was a good starter and showed me a wonderful reading list. 'Anxiety of Influence' was challenging for me and I didn't understand most part of it. I should try less challenging book of his, maybe Anthology, and then I'll dig into his other works you presented on the video. Thank you so much for making the video. And I'd appreciate it if you could make a video of Introduction to 'Anxiety of Influence' or another challenging book of Harold Bloom.
Anxiety of Influence is indeed very challenging. I'm thinking of doing a podcast on one of Bloom's books - it's either The Western Canon or Anxiety of Influence... It seems you would be a fan of the second, so we'll probably go with that one :) And thank you for your kind words! We'll have more Bloom content out soon I'm sure!
I'm late to this channel but think I've found a jewel. Thank you for introduction to Harold Bloom. Look forward to reading 📚 some of his books on a hot AZ summer afternoon. Thanks again.
I've read, The Western Canon and, How to read and why. Because of those works I started to memorise a few chosen poems, particularly Tennyson and it brings constant joy. Love your channel and your enthusiasm for reading - just starting in on The Count of Monte Cristo.
This was a good one. I've read The Western Canon and bits of a few others. I bought a copy of The American Canon during lockdown but haven't opened it yet. My gateway into more literary reading was The New Lifetime Reading Plan by Clifton J. Fadiman. Thank God for wise men of letters who provided maps for the sons and daughters of folks far less bookish than they'd like to be now.
Thank you for this video and its contents, i.e., your presentation. I don't know when i'll get it done, but you have stimulated me to read some of the Bloom books that have fallen through my cracks.
The literary critic, M.H. Abrams is a worthy companion to Harold Bloom. I recommend Natural Supernaturalism Tradition and Revolution in Romantic Literature.
M. H. Abrams is incredible. My copy of 'The Mirror and the Lamp' is falling apart with notes. If I recall correctly, I believe he taught and influenced Bloom!
I've known about Bloom, and without getting into the debates or even diving deep, I wanted to read his recommendations and his views. So I started two books- Stories and Poems for Extremely Intelligent Children and Where Shall Wisdom Be Found? Got a jolt of surprise seeing you mention them in your video. And I have to admit, I find children's stories very soothing and let my mind wander. (The stories we heard as kids always had a moral ending.)
I love that volume too. I picked it up because, like you, I find stories for children very soothing. The ones in the anthology could be rather difficult for children, but all are charming and enjoyable!
I'm a big fan of Bloom and have been for many years. Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human was my introduction - I've worn through two copies because I love rereading it. One you didn't mention was Genius: A Mosaic of One Hundred Exemplary Creative Minds. His favorite authors continue to pop up but he gives additional thoughts on a work that he hadn't previously covered. At first I struggled with some of his methods: always compare an author with eight others from a different time and genre but don't really explain their similarities or differences; and the fact that he didn't employ an editor in many of his works. But once one recognizes his genius and scope it's easy to overlook these: just sit back and enjoy!
It is through Bloom that I had my idea of what literary criticism is (it changes as I read more critics, but he is literally the one who has 'enlightened' me when it comes to this matter). Nevertheless I have never really finished reading any of his works. The Anxiety of Influence is too hard for me back then, the Anatomy of Influence is nicer (but I didn't finish that either). Your video made me wish to dive into his works again, and this time I want to start with Possessed by Memory. Thank you for all this :)
Thank you very much! I'm so happy to hear that you found the video valuable :) The Anxiety of Influence is a very difficult book. We have a podcast episode breaking it apart (episode 51, Hardcore Literature) that you might find helps make it easier! The Anatomy of Influence is an easier one, and I find it's nice to dip in and out, picking whichever essays most intrigue you - that's a good approach to much of Bloom's work, from The Western Canon to Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human. Happy reading :)
I read a little of - "The Visionary Company". It is a poem by poem analysis of some major Romantic poems. I found each entry of the individual poems not overwhelmingly meticulous. I liked the introduction. In the introduction he states that the Metaphysical poets are more of a Catholic bent, and other authors that lead up to Woolf and Lawrence were more of a Protestant mind.
Wonderful volume :) I recall that Bloom was inspired to write this after enjoying Northrop Frye's study of William Blake - Fearful Symmetry. Both solid works of criticism!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy Hello Benjamin, I wanted to say a few more words about Bloom. Do you know of Camille Paglia?? I understand she was a protege of his. I dip into her "Break, Blow, Burn" occasionally. Moreover, I am going to get kind of heavy now. But in "The VC.." Bloom said that the English Romantic poets saw Paradise Lost through the "prism" of Cowper's "The Task"!! I never read The Task. I know it's a long poem, about half as long as PL. TY
I’m quite surprised you left off Genius. What makes it unique in his writings is his inclusion of not only literary figures but also philosophical and religious writers. It’s therefore the most comprehensive of his overviews. We get to see his insights about and appreciation of figures like Kierkegaard, Paul, and Shikibu. It’s certainly better and more instructive than The Book of J. (J, of course, is one of the authors discussed in Genius.)
I'm a lifelong Bloom addict, who re-anchored me to Shakespeare for lifetime reading and re-reading. His Western Canon is central. Btw, Bloom is such a trove that even comments like his reference to Harold C. Goddard's Shakespeare criticism have opened an amazing new critic to me. (If you haven't read Goddard, please go check out his essay on Hamlet!)
Hi Benjamin just to let you know my 1st Harold Bloom has arrived it's How To Read And Why and reading it I'm finding it incredibly accessible and it is already increasing my critical thought and is reinforcing my love of literature
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Let's not forget FROM DAWN TO DECADENCE by J. Barzun😛😛
I will take a look at American Canon. I wonder if Thomas Wolfe was included--he's sort of a litmus test of mine. Many do not include him do to revisionist trends.
A book of Bloom's that I'm interested in is his sequel to the 1905 novel A Voyage To Arcturus, The Flight To lucifer. TEH original novel by David Lyndsey is an odd fantasy novel. C.S. lewis held it up as an influence but he said he didn't agree with the theology.
Where is the visionary company? This was one of blooms early volumes that showed his deep understanding and appreciation of the romantic poets. It’s still one of the great introductions to that crucial period of English literature. Really deserved a mention, I think.
What a coincidence that we both have our copies of “How to Read and Why” not readily available - I don’t know where your copy is, but you said it was somewhere in storage, whereas mine is also in storage because of a huge downsizing I had to make after I sold my house and boxed up my books and can only access them by digging into those boxes in my tool shed! (Readers please don’t stone me! lol). Now to my point: many of the Bloom books you have just mentioned I probably have 75% of them, but it was this little how to read and why that struck me very hard one day when I read the line where Bloom says, (and I’m afraid I am going to have to paraphrase here because I can’t go into my tool shed at this time of night and recoup the book to quote him exactly) but he says something to the effect of “Why do we read? We read because in our lives we meet and know very few people intimately, and those people are very worth knowing”. I think he was right on target. Subsequent to my reading of that little line I saw Dr. Bloom on Book Notes (Charles Lamb’s show) one evening and at one point in the interview Bloom said if you’re going to buy this book, buy it for this reason. You could’ve knocked me over with a feather as I had only recently read that to my husband and told him that it was worth the $26.95 that I spent on the book just to read that line. I was so impressed with myself that I actually had the same thought as Dr. Bloom. My husband tells me that I was unbearable to live with for a few days as I was emoting around the room saying, “I think like Bloom, I think like Bloom! L O L. Bloom was and is a lighthouse to me and I regret I did not drive the 1500 miles to just stand outside his classroom to hear him lecture just once. I would like to have shaken the man’s hand.
Well, I ordered this book yesterday from Able Books France. Good price used. I'm in Ben's book club. I plan to use it like I use Judi Dench's book "The Man Who Pays the Rent" as a reference to consult as I read the different Shakespeare plays. Decades ago I bought and read The Western Canon. But I was more enamored of the title than the text. I found it dense. But I read on goodreads this one is a little less academic. So let's give it a try. Nothing worse than academic writing. Hopefully this will be literary criticism, albeit without the pedantic scholar.
Charles Bukowski was my favorite writer. Poems , short stories, here are 2 immortal stories from his “erections...” book: “The most beautiful woman in town” “ the blanket” ( greatest short story of all time) Al
I said I was coming to appreciate H. Bloom. I think that was tepid of me. I find his work increasingly exciting, which is possibly the beginning of love. ( He does remind me that I'm more than an ideology.) I'm fortunate that your channel happened upon me.
Would it be a bad idea to read “Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human” if I havent read every single Shakespeare play? I really want to read it, to get hyped to read Shakespeare, then read all of Shakespeares works, then reread Harold Blooms book after
That sounds like a wonderful idea to me! Lots of readers have enjoyed “Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human” even if they've only read a few of his plays. Bloom's book is such a great way to get pumped up for the bard. It's very motivating to read his commentary and then check out the plays. I say definitely go for it! :)
@@BenjaminMcEvoy As I recall Bloom's lectures were theatrical and seemingly intended to dazzle students and possibly intimidate many of his fellow professors who might be in attendance. Some of the terminology he used was quite daunting, but you also got a sense of the depth of his understanding of literature and his respect for the authors under discussion.
Hey Benjamin, I love your videos. As a new reader, I’ve tried couple bloom’s essay on the great literatures. However, I find it hard to really relate and share the appreciation of his essays because I’m not familiar with the works he was writing about. Would you suggest one to return to bloom after becoming a more well rounded reader? If not, which bloom would you suggest one to start on?
Thank you very much :) Yes, I think one would get more out of his essays after reading the works in question. His stuff on Shakespeare makes for a good introduction, so you could read those before the plays. But when he talks about novels like Anna Karenina and Moby Dick, I think they would be difficult to appreciate unless you've read the works first. Also, he reveals tons of spoilers! I would recommend you to pick up 'How to Read and Why' as a first reader. This one can be appreciated even without having read many books.
I viewed one of his interviews on C-SPAN from around 20 years ago. He was not a fan of annotation and marginalia at all. He tried, I am not certain how successfully, to have his students memorize what was being studied. He believed "possession by memory " to be a powerful adversary as we are "influenced by what we remember."
I don’t think his mind could slow down long enough to write in margins. Besides, he had probably already memorized it. lol I respected and admired him greatly.
One critique of Bloom-- he leaves out an index in some books; that's maddening when you want to search for subject references. [Ruffle cut pages--never heard the term--thanks!]
I am 69 years old and I miss Bloom. He was someone I turned to for answers of a literary nature. He was a critic who fairly rated works based on their literary merit and explained why he held the opinion he did. This caused no end of vexation for the PC crowd who have infiltrated the universities today. His stature protected him from being fired but now that he has gone people within literary circles have decided to expand the so-called Western Canon to reflect the diversity we have in our societies without much attention to the merit of the works they wish to include. Bloom never bowed to the waves of popular culture so when asked by Charlie Rose what he thought of the frenzy that was provoked by people lining up to buy Harry Potter for their children, Bloom said he had read it and thought it was slop.
Thanks for the list. Bloom has always seemed too full of references that are beyond me. I have not read “How to Read…” maybe that’s a good one to pick up.
Bloom is definitely a dense read. A single sentence from him can keep me occupied for a very long time, demanding me to search out his allusions. Absolutely, his 'How to Read' is a great one to pick up. I returned to it recently and loved it all over again :)
I want to get his anthologies! And How to Read and Why. But I have way too many unread books to go through so it would be impractical to buy them to just sit on my shelf. 😭
Ben I have and have read through Bloom's Shakespeare: Invention of the Human and How to Read and Why. I have also listened to Bloom speak on youtube (before death of course). I know I should appreciate his work more, but I find it inaccessible at times, somewhat confusing (when he compares, for instance, another work of Shakespeare when discussing a different work)., and a bit boring. I am a voracious reader so I wonder if you could help me to learn to appreciate him more?
Well, you left out "Kabbalah and Criticism," an early work that is the basis of everything else he wrote, although that may be an exaggeration. Bloom knew Gershom Scholem, the great scholar of Kabbalah who was also an intimate friend of Walter Benjamin, a superlative purveyor of literary insights. Anyway, Scholem is a formative influence on Bloom as a literary critic, the Jewish roots, so to speak.
I have a bone to pick with Bloom because he kinda crapped on John Steinbeck and I think he was plain wrong about that. East Of Eden is the work of a master. I would rank it equal or above anything by Faulkner or Hemmingway. I don’t think you can write a masterpiece like East Of Eden and be considered a lesser writer than ANYBODY. He also didn’t seem to care much for Cormac McCarthy outside of Blood Meridian and All The Pretty Horses. As if The Crossing and The Road are not brilliant.
If I were a billionaire, I’d set up Harold Bloom memorial libraries, and maybe even some Harold Bloom Universities, in which students would study nothing but the books he most admired and recommended. Every literature lover is going to have to fight to save the canon. The woke mob want it replaced - and they are serious about this. I even saw a book in Waterstones called ‘How to De-Colonise Your Bookshelves’!!! Thank god for Bloom.
I love Harold Bloom but have only completely read Hamlet: Poem Unlimited and Shakespeare: Invention of the Human. I purchased The Western Canon some time ago but have only perused it and have yet to read it from cover to cover. I love that he hated Harry Potter and other YA books which have destroyed education in the United States, but I wish I knew his opinion on popular fiction of the past like Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. Those were popular fiction in their time, and I wonder if he hates those stories and novels as much as he hates modern day works of fiction like Harry Potter.
I met Harold Bloom a few times, his wife is my grandmother's dearest friend. He was a kind and interesting man to talk to. Your video does his work a great honor! Keep it up
It's an adorable surprise! I can't believe I found you talking about Harold Bloom. I am a Brazilian learning the English language through poetry. Years ago, I found a book about Shakespeare in my neighborhood. I just opened this book this morning to read it. My first surprise of the day was to realize that the book author is Harold Bloom. Two years ago, I bought the book "The Best Poems of the English Language" and I fell in love with Bloom's passion for English Literature. And now I find you,here, talking about professor Bloom and recommending the book I found in my neighborhood : Shakespeare The Invention of the Human. Sometimes life can just be perfect!
I also want to thank you for your incredible work in Literature.
This the only channel that I follow about literature,the other ones are all hipsters with a cup of tea enjoying themselves saying obvious things about books learnt on school. I can see that you instead are very passionate in what you do and you talk about the book themselves and not about other useless things. Great channel,and I like also your accent
Thank you :) I really appreciate that! It's great to see other passionate readers like yourself getting a lot out of these books and discussions!
Leaf by Leaf
Steve Donoghue
A Cruel Reader's Thesis
Spinster's Library
JuanReads
There are definitely channels that are not "hipsters drinking tea". Look around. And one even comes with an English accent...if that is a requisite.
It's like books as a tik tok aesthetic rather than a real and rewarding pursuit. It turns reading into a social spectacle
Yes, I too have noticed some of the younger dears, bless them, going on and on about the CORRECT way to annotate. They then, very enthusiastically, hold up their books, ADORNED with endless little fluoro sticky notes, in all the colours of the rainbow like ribbons in a milliners shop! Then, to top it all, they have at hand, an equally impressive stack of highlighters, with corresponding colours to suit!🙄 They then proceed to tell you to use pink for this, yellow for that, and so on.... Very tedious indeed and I very much doubt whether actual deep reading takes place. Personally,I think they're missing the point, turning a book into a doodle pad. To each their own, I suppose. Me, I'm rather snuggly propped up in a comfy armchair with only pen in hand.
Better Than Food! He’s brilliant
I am so happy to have discovered your channel. Now that my children are adults, I've been at loose ends about what to do with myself. You've inspired me to brush off my English degree and dive back in the great books.
Hey Wendy, if you are serious about doing that, I thoroughly recommend his Patreon “Hardcore Literature Book Club” … we are doing Don Quixote at the moment - which has only just started. It’s great, with lots of content to help with your reading. It’s also a great group of people.
Thank you, Wendy. I appreciate that so much :) Coming back to the great books can certainly keep one extremely fulfilled, so I'm thoroughly excited for you! And welcome to the Book Club!
@@lenlarsson5630 Thank you, Len :) I really appreciate that, and get so much out of your fantastic comments and responses to the books! I am so excited for Don Quixote. I think it may be the book I've been most looking forward to talking about!
@@lenlarsson5630 I decided to join the book club. Don Quixote is on my top 10 list of favorite books.
@@wendyfairfull8967 Good for you Wendy ... you won't be disappointed. See you on the inside :)
Bravo! This is brilliant! I am a huge Bloom devotee. I also regretted not going to meet him but I sent and received two emails from him which were and continue to be very touching to me. I have printed and put them inside two of his books. Professor Bloom would be proud of your reviews and recommendations! Well done sir!
Wow! You are incredibly fortunate to have such treasures. What a lovely way to keep his emails to you. And thank you - the thought that Professor Bloom would be happy with my reviews warms my heart :)
Our living tradition was in good hands with Harold Bloom. I just bought “The Ringers In The Tower” and I’ve appreciated his insight for years. All the best critics possess their own creative genius.
Nice choice - that is some deep cuts Bloom :)
Your enthusiasm for Bloom is refreshing to me as his interest in great art for great art's sake was refreshing to you. Videos like this make me wish YT would provide us with a "shoebox" in which we could put the videos we MUST view again rather than mark them as ones we merely like and must leave them undistinguished to be lost in the sea of videos we merely like. Your work stands out. Thanks!!!
At the bottom select the "You" tab. On there you can create Playlists to save videos to. I have two, a general one and one for music.
Just happened across your videos today, as I’m reading Dostoevsky for the first time.
What a breath of fresh air they are!
And wonderful to see a bloke (only slightly) younger than myself with such admiration for the great Harold Bloom.
I only discovered him myself a few years ago; I now return almost weekly to How to Read and Why and the Western Canon; and the Invention of the Human reinvigorated my enthusiasm for Shakespeare, and introduced me to earlier classics like Goddard.
Great work, Benjamin!
Exciting video. At age 82, I'm glad I gave up regret as a stupifying and totally counterproductive emotion some time ago, else I'd be wishing I had more time left to read all, or most, of the wonderful books you recommend here and elsewhere. As it is, I'll have to make some hasty decisions. Where to start...? I deplore the tendency of some teachers and critics to reduce art to politics, social justice theory, or psychology. I suspect that Bloom might often feel very akin to me. Listening to some Bloom lectures on UA-cam I've been impressed by a genuine modesty and courteous warmth that remind me of some of my own best teachers. I must say your own outlook reminds me of them, too. Thank you, Mr. McEvoy.
Wonderful video! I have the Western Canon and The Best Poems of the English Language, and I find it very challenging (not a native speaker), but still seeing your enthusiasm on Bloom makes me keep adding his books to my cart. And I truly believe one day I will be able to enjoy his books, which can give me wayyyyy deeper understanding and appreciation on the great books!
Thank you :) Bloom's stuff is hard even for native speakers, and it sounds like you're very enthusiastic yourself - so understanding will follow! The Western Canon and The Best Poems are great ones to have on your shelf!
I have ‘the invention of the human’ and ‘the western canon’ . I’m so glad I found your channel. I love Shakespeare! Thank you so much!
Let me know what you think :) These are two of my favourite Bloom books!
I just dipped into a bit of Bloom's 'Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human' as I thought it would supplement my understanding of Othello (a book I am studying my a-level). I have to say the chapter on Othello is really quite good. I know this is not necessarily his quote, but Bloom quotes a man called William Hazlitt and it is a fantastic quote - Iago is a man who "stabs men in the dark to prevent ennui".
Wonderful Bloom recommendations! 😊
1. I think the Bloom Guides are a great way into Bloom and the book in question. I would include the Bloom's Modern Critical Views, too, for which he wrote introductions to each of these authors and/or their works (e.g. Shakespeare, Hamlet, Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, Stephen King). There's also Bloom's Classic Critical Views in which the literary critics are predominantly historical literary critics rather than contemporary or modern literary critics. Bloom's introductions in these series are brief but usually thought-provoking even if I don't always agree with him. He's very opinionated, even pugilistic, but the flipside of this is that his opinion on a matter is clear and lucid.
2. Personally, I'd prefer to shy away recommending Bloom's more academic works like The Anxiety of Influence - at least initially. I think these kinds of books tend to bog one down in modern literary debates which, if anything, are more likely to detract than cultivate or contribute to the pleasures of reading the classics; yet my very favorite aspect of Bloom his sheer delight in reading great literature. I think his joy is infectious, and I'd prefer to see that part of Bloom rub off onto people who are first reading Bloom than the academic debates, his underlying literary critical philosophy, the Freudianism, etc. Not saying these things aren't important to consider, but I think they'd be better suited at a later stage in reading Bloom or at least only initially suited for a certain type of person.
3. I have a huge amount of respect and love for Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, but it's a fairly large tome! Hard for the first time reader to get into. Unless they love Shakespeare. Or at least it might be best to read something like the great Shakespeare scholar Stanely Wells's shorter books like William Shakespeare: A Very Short Introduction or Shakespeare's Tragedies or the like, and then read Bloom's Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human.
4. That said, I'd recommend Novelists and Novels by Bloom. Granted, this is also quite a lengthy book, but one need't read the entire book. Rather, read a novel, then read the chapter in this book about the novel you've read. Bloom offers a lot of helpful and insightful information, though they're not necessarily spoiler-free so I'd recommend reading the novel first, unless you don't mind spoilers! Anyway, this is a good book to get to dip into as the need arises.
5. By the way, I likewise love his Bright Book of Life, but I think a lot of it regurgitates material from Bloom's past works like Novelists and Novels. At the same time, though, he does seem to update some of his past opinions with new ones in the Bright Book of Life, though I don't think they're significantly updated, at least not from what I saw, so if one already owns the former Novelists and Novels then it might not be worth picking up the latter Bright Book of Life. At any rate, the Bright Book of Life seems to be a bit of a Duke's mixture of sorts. My preference would be for the earliest Novelists and Novels if one can't read both.
6. Poets and Poems is the poetic counterpart Novelists and Novels. I'd highly recommend this one if you like poetry.
7. I agree with the Western Canon and the American Canon. Both wonderful Bloom books in general.
8. How to Read and Why is, I think, the best introduction to Bloom if one can only read one of his books in his corpus. In fact, I think it's probably the perfect introduction to Bloom. It is relatively short for Bloom (less than 300 pages) and it's got a good mix of Bloom's thoughts on the great novels, short stories, plays, and poems. It's more broad than deep, but it hits all the right notes as one reads.
9. One last thing. I'm of two minds about Bloom's books on the Bible:
a. On the one hand, Bloom has a well developed philosophy of aestheticism, and Bloom is highly sensitive in seeing and appreciating the literary beauties of the King James Version of the Bible as well as much of the underyling Hebrew (if I recall correctly, Bloom learned Yiddish and Hebrew before he learned English). He's also quite right about the New Testament not being much of a work of art. In this respect, Bloom echoes the Renaissance scholar C.S. Lewis, most famous for his Narnia books, when Lewis said:
"The New Testament in the original Greek is not a work of literary art: it is not written in a solemn, ecclesiastical language, it is written in the sort of Greek which was spoken over the eastern Mediterranean after Greek had become an international language and therefore lost its real beauty and subtlety. In it we see Greek used by people who have no real feeling for Greek words because Greek words are not the words they spoke when they were children. It is a sort of ‘basic’ Greek; a language without roots in the soil, a utilitarian, commercial and administrative language. Does this shock us? It ought not to, except as the Incarnation itself ought to shock us. The same divine humility which decreed that God should become a baby at a peasant-woman’s breast, and later an arrested field-preacher in the hands of the Roman police, decreed also that he should be preaching in a vulgar, prosaic and unliterary language. If you can stomach the one, you can stomach the other. The Incarnation is in that sense an irreverent doctrine: Christianity, in that sense, an incurably irreverent religion. When we expect that it should have come before the Word in all the beauty that we now feel in the Authorized Version we are as wide of the mark as the Jews were in expecting that the Messiah would come as a great earthly king. The real sanctity, the real beauty and sublimity of the New Testament (as of Christ’s life) are of a different sort: miles deeper or further in."
By the way, quite interestingly, Bloom met many famous literary people in his life, and one of the earliest literary celebrities Bloom met was C.S. Lewis, which Bloom has written about in his introduction to Bloom's Modern Critical Views on C.S. Lewis.
b. On the other hand, I find Bloom bases much if not most of his analysis of the Bible on dated literary theory, viz. documentary hypothesis and its various models (e.g. JEPD theory), which contemporary biblical scholars have moved beyond. Indeed, even what exists today in terms of the documentary hypothesis is more a relic of 19th century to early 20th century biblical scholarship. See, among other people, the late Robert Gottlieb's comments on Bloom, for example. Gottlieb was an almost exact contemporary of Bloom's, just one or two years younger as I remember. Both men were Jewish, though Gottlieb more secular than Bloom; both grew up in NYC, though Gottlieb on the Upper West Side, unlike Bloom who grew up poorer; both attended Ivy League institutions as well as Cambridge University, though Bloom went on to work in academia, whereas Gottlieb decided not to pursue academia and instead became the editor for Simon and Schuster (where he famously discovered Joseph Heller and published Catch-22), Alfred A. Knopf, the New Yorker, and frequently contributed to the New York Times Book Review and others. Sorry, I'm rambling! But anyway, while I highly value Bloom on the aesthetics of the Bible, as well as its literary value in general, I wouldn't put too much stock into anything else Bloom says about the Bible. To be fair, as I've alluded, Bloom is always interesting to read, even or perhaps especially when one disagrees with him! So all in all I still love Bloom and appreciate his literary criticism very much.
Benjamin McEvoy is our new Harold Bloom!
Aw, thank you so much, Deepak! Tremendously high praise! :)
@@BenjaminMcEvoy Of course!
I’ve only read a smattering of Bloom. But this video inspires me to take a deeper dive into his works. Thank you.
Thank you so much! That makes me so happy to hear :)
Great video! I've read some of Bloom's introductions but never actually had a copy of one of his books. I'm going to keep an eye out for Shakespeare The Invention of the Human.
Thank you :) Perfect! It's a great place to start!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy I ended up ordering it and I'm going to use it as a companion to trying to read all of Shakespeare's works. (: Much appreciate your reccomendations!
Though I never studied under him in person, I think of Harold Bloom as my favorite professor. I thank him on bended knees for leading me to the eternal spring of great art.
Yes, please keep making videos. I’ve found great value in almost everything you’ve produced. You’ve given me great insights into the world of literature and “How to Read”, even though I’ve been reading for 50+ years 😉. Thank you!
You never cease to educate me and recommend truly amazing works and things to read. I thank you for furthering my understanding and challenging my reading.
Thank you, Kevin! I appreciate that so much :) Keep reading the great books!
Great video! Oh, how I wish I was blessed with the ability to read fast. (I also wish I had your accent.) What I love about Bloom is how much he loves what he reads and he encourages us to love. As soon as one heavily politicizes the work, it gets in the way of enjoying it. It’s fine to point out cringy parts but let’s enjoy the uplifting parts. Thank you for taking the time to make this.
Thank you so much, Jeffrey!! I really appreciate your kind words, my friend :) You've perfectly captured what I appreciate about Bloom too - his love and passion is incredibly infectious ☺️
Your videos are always like a kind of savory, enjoyable mental food to me :) .. keep up posting my friend!
Thank you, Hisham :) What a wonderful compliment. Savory, enjoyable mental food!
I have WAY too many Harold Bloom books, and I find them addicting and want to get them all (I'm sure I have 20-30, minimum). That being said, I can't believe the comments are all so positive here and no one is complaining about Bloom.
As I said above, I have most of his major books, but God, he could really make me angry at times. I like your own commentary much more than Blooms, Benjamin, but yeah, I certainly see that you are heavily influenced by Bloom and also How to Read, which I probably personally prefer to How to Read and Why in terms of actually educating readers in terms of their appreciation, retention, and overall experience.
One of my larger issues with Bloom is how often he repeats himself from book to book, and basically says the same stock phrases about most authors across his books (I don't think I've read any of his pre-1980 books, though, and I've heard that Anxiety of Influence is his best, and certainly one day I will read that), almost like Homer's stock phrases for his heroes in the Iliad/Odyssey ("rosy-fingered dawn," "swift-footed Achilleus," etc.).
I had the greatest opportunity to go to Harold Bloom lectures in New York four times. At that time i only read a few of his book reviews, which Inevitably drew me to his own writings. I am a lover of Shakespeares work since grammar school.
Harold Bloom, Shakespeare invention of the human was/is a spectacular read.
No mention of 'Agon'? Well, I can see why, it being a culmination of 'Anxiety of Influence' & 'Map of Misreading' Expanding on those works, he offers a Theory of Revisionism, which he views as a contest of opposing artistic and moral drives (that he applies to various authors). Agon, of course, is derived from 'agony' and 'Agonistes'
It was a great pleasure to discover your channel, i just started don quixote . Keep up the good work 🙏
Thank you, my friend. Let me know how you enjoy Don Quixote :) My favourite novel!
I want to hear how hayder likes DQ, too! I'm reading it for the first time at the moment, and I'm about 700 pages in. I'm a very slow reader, and I love to write tons of marginalia, as Benjamin would say, but I'm still enjoying the book a lot more than I thought it would.
Brilliant thank you for this video so much. I have the How to Read and Why but just had to go and get the Shakespeare, the invention of the human. I am also quite keen to get the children’s book one, for myself really. Gradually I will add to my Bloom collection.
I'm glad the children's book is getting some love! I really love that one. Bloom has a nice introduction at the front where he talks about his rationale for his choices and children's education. And you definitely can't go wrong with his writings on Shakespeare!
Enjoyed this, Benjamin.
Fyi, Harold Bloom's top 5 works of literary criticism:
'The Greeks and the Irrational' by E.R. Dodds
'European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages' by Ernst Robert Curtius
'The Mirror and the Lamp' by M.H. Abrams
'The Rhetoric of Religion' by Kenneth Burke
'Colors of the Mind' by Angus Fletcher
Thank you so much for sharing! I can speak to the strength of all of these, but I have yet to read E. R. Dodds - I'll have to rectify that ASAP!
Really nice! I've read a few of these already, but not "The Bright Book of Life". I'm really looking forward to it. Thanks.
Thank you, Joe :) That one's one of my personal favourites!
Your list is great. I'm interested in the Western Canon and the Stories and Poems for extremely intelligent Children of all Ages (whew, what a title!). But the first one you mentioned 'Shakespeare . . ." I like the sound of that, too.
Invention of the Human was my introduction to Bloom, and it absolutely changed my life! Although we don't agree on everything (I mourned his death partly because it was the loss of a great man, but also partly because now I will never be able to meet him and tell him why he was wrong about Falstaff and Coriolanus), he opens up the plays with such love and brilliant insight, and I was moved to tears many times as I read the book. I read Anatomy of Influence earlier this year on a whim because I saw it on the shelves of my local library. He lost me completely for large chunks of the book, but every time I considered skipping bits, he would hit me right between the eyes with an absolutely genius statement on literature, philosophy, or life in general, and I would have to keep reading. 🤣Thanks for this video! I'm excited to Add How to Read and Why and The Bright Book of Life to my reading list!
now I will never be able to meet him and tell him why he was wrong about Falstaff and Coriolanus - could you please elaborate a bit more on on these, sir?
I am truly keen on learning.
@@ahmadhasan8355 Love being called "sir," that's a first for me XD
But yes, I'd LOVE to elaborate on my pet peeves about Bloom!
Falstaff first. Bloom sees Falstaff as a sort of tragic, misunderstood hero who is betrayed by Prince Hal, which is a take on the character that I have never understood. What we actually see in the plays is that Falstaff is an alcoholic and a thief, who seems to have no desire to better himself. At the end of both Henry IV plays, we see Falstaff being given the opportunity to lead a better life, and yet he simply squanders what he is given and never changes. The most astonishing thing about Bloom's opinion is that he believes Falstaff, an old man with a long history of dissolute behavior, was lead astray by Prince Hal, a teenager who is desperately searching for a father figure. To me, it seems clear that the absolute reverse must have been true! It's far more likely that a confused teenager would be enticed into a seedy lifestyle by a charismatic older man than the other way around. What is really rather marvelous about the whole thing is that I think Falstaff himself has tricked Bloom into seeing the version of Falstaff that he would like to project. An amazing feat for a fictional character!
As far as Coriolanus is concerned, Bloom rather summarily dismisses him as an essentially "empty" character. This, to me, seems like an incredibly lazy reading of the character for someone with such mental power and insight. Bloom bases his assessment of Coriolanus on the fact that there are no traditional soliloquies to tell us what the character is thinking. However, when I read the play, I found the character an incredibly rich portrayal of a man of great natural kindness and integrity, but whose moral compass and ability to express emotions in a healthy way have both been misshapen by his harsh upbringing, as well as his tendency to base his self-worth on the opinions of the people he looks up to (Volumnia, Menenius, Cominius, etc.). I also think it is a breathtakingly insightful look at PTSD, long before any concept of such a disorder had been formed. From a technical standpoint, I believe Shakespeare had moved beyond the use of soliloquies to tell us directly what a character is thinking. Instead, he was attempting to SHOW us through the character's speech and actions, in a much more modern way than he had previously used.
Wow, that got long, even though I was trying to keep it succinct lol. If you actually read all of this, you're a hero. If you didn't, well... Thanks for giving me an excuse to vent, anyway!
Brilliant as always ..thank you Benjamin for these great recommendations ... I love Harold Bloom ... Read his How to Read and Why some years back ...also had to read his The Visionary Company for my research at the University( great book).... These days I am reading his Possessed by Memory and I am already possessed ...
I've been waiting for you making a video featuring Harold Bloom. Thank you very much!
I read only 'How to Read and Why' and 'Anxiety of Influence'. 'How to Read and Why' was a good starter and showed me a wonderful reading list. 'Anxiety of Influence' was challenging for me and I didn't understand most part of it. I should try less challenging book of his, maybe Anthology, and then I'll dig into his other works you presented on the video.
Thank you so much for making the video. And I'd appreciate it if you could make a video of Introduction to 'Anxiety of Influence' or another challenging book of Harold Bloom.
Anxiety of Influence is indeed very challenging. I'm thinking of doing a podcast on one of Bloom's books - it's either The Western Canon or Anxiety of Influence... It seems you would be a fan of the second, so we'll probably go with that one :) And thank you for your kind words! We'll have more Bloom content out soon I'm sure!
I'm late to this channel but think I've found a jewel. Thank you for introduction to Harold Bloom. Look forward to reading 📚 some of his books on a hot AZ summer afternoon. Thanks again.
I've read, The Western Canon and, How to read and why. Because of those works I started to memorise a few chosen poems, particularly Tennyson and it brings constant joy. Love your channel and your enthusiasm for reading - just starting in on The Count of Monte Cristo.
Can you please do more bookstore vlogs ? Please
I absolutely can :) In fact, I have 3 more that just need some editing!
This was a good one. I've read The Western Canon and bits of a few others. I bought a copy of The American Canon during lockdown but haven't opened it yet. My gateway into more literary reading was The New Lifetime Reading Plan by Clifton J. Fadiman. Thank God for wise men of letters who provided maps for the sons and daughters of folks far less bookish than they'd like to be now.
Thank you for this video and its contents, i.e., your presentation. I don't know when i'll get it done, but you have stimulated me to read some of the Bloom books that have fallen through my cracks.
The literary critic, M.H. Abrams is a worthy companion to Harold Bloom. I recommend Natural Supernaturalism Tradition and Revolution in Romantic Literature.
M. H. Abrams is incredible. My copy of 'The Mirror and the Lamp' is falling apart with notes. If I recall correctly, I believe he taught and influenced Bloom!
Thank you so much for book recommendations on scripture. May God bless this channel to reach out more people. 🎉❤
Thank you so much, Joanne! :) 🙏
I've known about Bloom, and without getting into the debates or even diving deep, I wanted to read his recommendations and his views. So I started two books- Stories and Poems for Extremely Intelligent Children and Where Shall Wisdom Be Found? Got a jolt of surprise seeing you mention them in your video. And I have to admit, I find children's stories very soothing and let my mind wander. (The stories we heard as kids always had a moral ending.)
I love that volume too. I picked it up because, like you, I find stories for children very soothing. The ones in the anthology could be rather difficult for children, but all are charming and enjoyable!
On occasion I manage to stumble upon a truly good channel. I did this morning. Thank you Benjamin.
Thank you, Buck :)
I'm a big fan of Bloom and have been for many years. Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human was my introduction - I've worn through two copies because I love rereading it. One you didn't mention was Genius: A Mosaic of One Hundred Exemplary Creative Minds. His favorite authors continue to pop up but he gives additional thoughts on a work that he hadn't previously covered. At first I struggled with some of his methods: always compare an author with eight others from a different time and genre but don't really explain their similarities or differences; and the fact that he didn't employ an editor in many of his works. But once one recognizes his genius and scope it's easy to overlook these: just sit back and enjoy!
Two of my favourite Harold’s passed away. Harold Bloom & Harold Budd. How To Read and Why is mandatory reading.
It is through Bloom that I had my idea of what literary criticism is (it changes as I read more critics, but he is literally the one who has 'enlightened' me when it comes to this matter). Nevertheless I have never really finished reading any of his works. The Anxiety of Influence is too hard for me back then, the Anatomy of Influence is nicer (but I didn't finish that either). Your video made me wish to dive into his works again, and this time I want to start with Possessed by Memory. Thank you for all this :)
Thank you very much! I'm so happy to hear that you found the video valuable :) The Anxiety of Influence is a very difficult book. We have a podcast episode breaking it apart (episode 51, Hardcore Literature) that you might find helps make it easier! The Anatomy of Influence is an easier one, and I find it's nice to dip in and out, picking whichever essays most intrigue you - that's a good approach to much of Bloom's work, from The Western Canon to Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human. Happy reading :)
Fantastic video! So glad I found your channel. All your videos are so fascinating and insightful. Thanks so much
Thank you, Scott :) I really appreciate that, my friend!
Well done! Agree with your choices. Read the 1st 2 various times. Luck.
That the first time I have heard of him bloom will have a look in the book shop for him
Amazing :)
I loved “Genius”. Great sweeping content
Terrific book! Bloom was worried it was overly ambitious, but I thought it was tremendous. Such a great range of geniuses explored.
I read a little of - "The Visionary Company". It is a poem by poem analysis of some major Romantic poems. I found each entry of the individual poems not overwhelmingly meticulous. I liked the introduction. In the introduction he states that the Metaphysical poets are more of a Catholic bent, and other authors that lead up to Woolf and Lawrence were more of a Protestant mind.
Wonderful volume :) I recall that Bloom was inspired to write this after enjoying Northrop Frye's study of William Blake - Fearful Symmetry. Both solid works of criticism!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy Hello Benjamin, I wanted to say a few more words about Bloom. Do you know of Camille Paglia?? I understand she was a protege of his. I dip into her "Break, Blow, Burn" occasionally. Moreover, I am going to get kind of heavy now. But in "The VC.." Bloom said that the English Romantic poets saw Paradise Lost through the "prism" of Cowper's "The Task"!! I never read The Task. I know it's a long poem, about half as long as PL. TY
Each one of your videos has really inspired me. Thanks again Benjamin. But at some point I’m going to have to start reading faster 😳
Thank you! Ah, so many books, so little time. As Bloom says, we're reading against the clock!
I’m quite surprised you left off Genius. What makes it unique in his writings is his inclusion of not only literary figures but also philosophical and religious writers. It’s therefore the most comprehensive of his overviews. We get to see his insights about and appreciation of figures like Kierkegaard, Paul, and Shikibu. It’s certainly better and more instructive than The Book of J. (J, of course, is one of the authors discussed in Genius.)
I'm a lifelong Bloom addict, who re-anchored me to Shakespeare for lifetime reading and re-reading. His Western Canon is central.
Btw, Bloom is such a trove that even comments like his reference to Harold C. Goddard's Shakespeare criticism have opened an amazing new critic to me. (If you haven't read Goddard, please go check out his essay on Hamlet!)
Hi Great literary channel and on these recommendations I have ordered two of these books really looking forward to delving into these Thank you
Thank you, Sean :) That's so awesome to hear! I hope you enjoy your Blooms :)
Thank you again hope to see more great literary content from your good self soon
Hi Benjamin just to let you know my 1st Harold Bloom has arrived it's How To Read And Why and reading it I'm finding it incredibly accessible and it is already increasing my critical thought and is reinforcing my love of literature
Let's not forget FROM DAWN TO DECADENCE by J. Barzun😛😛
You’ve encouraged me to tackle Lear!
I'm so happy to hear that! Let me know what you think :)
I will take a look at American Canon. I wonder if Thomas Wolfe was included--he's sort of a litmus test of mine. Many do not include him do to revisionist trends.
A book of Bloom's that I'm interested in is his sequel to the 1905 novel A Voyage To Arcturus, The Flight To lucifer. TEH original novel by David Lyndsey is an odd fantasy novel. C.S. lewis held it up as an influence but he said he didn't agree with the theology.
Where is the visionary company? This was one of blooms early volumes that showed his deep understanding and appreciation of the romantic poets. It’s still one of the great introductions to that crucial period of English literature. Really deserved a mention, I think.
You're right, David. It should be in the list!
What a coincidence that we both have our copies of “How to Read and Why” not readily available - I don’t know where your copy is, but you said it was somewhere in storage, whereas mine is also in storage because of a huge downsizing I had to make after I sold my house and boxed up my books and can only access them by digging into those boxes in my tool shed! (Readers please don’t stone me! lol). Now to my point: many of the Bloom books you have just mentioned I probably have 75% of them, but it was this little how to read and why that struck me very hard one day when I read the line where Bloom says, (and I’m afraid I am going to have to paraphrase here because I can’t go into my tool shed at this time of night and recoup the book to quote him exactly) but he says something to the effect of “Why do we read? We read because in our lives we meet and know very few people intimately, and those people are very worth knowing”. I think he was right on target. Subsequent to my reading of that little line I saw Dr. Bloom on Book Notes (Charles Lamb’s show) one evening and at one point in the interview Bloom said if you’re going to buy this book, buy it for this reason. You could’ve knocked me over with a feather as I had only recently read that to my husband and told him that it was worth the $26.95 that I spent on the book just to read that line. I was so impressed with myself that I actually had the same thought as Dr. Bloom. My husband tells me that I was unbearable to live with for a few days as I was emoting around the room saying, “I think like Bloom, I think like Bloom! L O L.
Bloom was and is a lighthouse to me and I regret I did not drive the 1500 miles to just stand outside his classroom to hear him lecture just once. I would like to have shaken the man’s hand.
Well, I ordered this book yesterday from Able Books France. Good price used. I'm in Ben's book club. I plan to use it like I use Judi Dench's book "The Man Who Pays the Rent" as a reference to consult as I read the different Shakespeare plays. Decades ago I bought and read The Western Canon. But I was more enamored of the title than the text. I found it dense. But I read on goodreads this one is a little less academic. So let's give it a try. Nothing worse than academic writing. Hopefully this will be literary criticism, albeit without the pedantic scholar.
Charles Bukowski was my favorite writer. Poems , short stories,
here are 2 immortal stories from his “erections...” book:
“The most beautiful woman in town”
“ the blanket” ( greatest short story of all time)
Al
I said I was coming to appreciate H. Bloom. I think that was tepid of me. I find his work increasingly exciting, which is possibly the beginning of love. ( He does remind me that I'm more than an ideology.)
I'm fortunate that your channel happened upon me.
Enjoyed this. Noticed the 'Personalities' volume on Lear is out of print. Unavailable on Amazon. Couldn't even find on eBay!
Maps of Misreading is the best nonfiction book I've ever read
Would it be a bad idea to read “Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human” if I havent read every single Shakespeare play? I really want to read it, to get hyped to read Shakespeare, then read all of Shakespeares works, then reread Harold Blooms book after
That sounds like a wonderful idea to me! Lots of readers have enjoyed “Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human” even if they've only read a few of his plays. Bloom's book is such a great way to get pumped up for the bard. It's very motivating to read his commentary and then check out the plays. I say definitely go for it! :)
Great video. Just reading Hamlet: Poem Unlimited, has a pretty interesting analysis.
Thank you :) I totally agree!
Very interesting that I ran across this clip. I attended some of his lectures on Blake Romantic poets.
Wow! Lucky you. How were the lectures?
@@BenjaminMcEvoy As I recall Bloom's lectures were theatrical and seemingly intended to dazzle students and possibly intimidate many of his fellow professors who might be in attendance. Some of the terminology he used was quite daunting, but you also got a sense of the depth of his understanding of literature and his respect for the authors under discussion.
Should I begin reading Bloom by The Western Canon or by Whow to Read and Why? They both seem to be good entry points.
My vote would be for How to Read and Why :)
@@BenjaminMcEvoy Thank you!!!
Hey Benjamin, I love your videos. As a new reader, I’ve tried couple bloom’s essay on the great literatures. However, I find it hard to really relate and share the appreciation of his essays because I’m not familiar with the works he was writing about. Would you suggest one to return to bloom after becoming a more well rounded reader? If not, which bloom would you suggest one to start on?
Thank you very much :) Yes, I think one would get more out of his essays after reading the works in question. His stuff on Shakespeare makes for a good introduction, so you could read those before the plays. But when he talks about novels like Anna Karenina and Moby Dick, I think they would be difficult to appreciate unless you've read the works first. Also, he reveals tons of spoilers! I would recommend you to pick up 'How to Read and Why' as a first reader. This one can be appreciated even without having read many books.
@@BenjaminMcEvoy thank you for the tip! I’ll check out how to read and why
Figures of Capable Imagination has a number of good essays on English and American authors of the 19th and 20th centuries
Although belated. Thank you for the resources. Keep up the good work.
I viewed one of his interviews on C-SPAN from around 20 years ago. He was not a fan of annotation and marginalia at all. He tried, I am not certain how successfully, to have his students memorize what was being studied. He believed "possession by memory " to be a powerful adversary as we are "influenced by what we remember."
I don’t think his mind could slow down long enough to write in margins. Besides, he had probably already memorized it. lol I respected and admired him greatly.
I love Ben's blue-grey eyes.
One critique of Bloom--
he leaves out an index in some books;
that's maddening when you want to search for subject references.
[Ruffle cut pages--never heard the term--thanks!]
My love-at-first-sight encounter with Bloom is Cabbala and Criticism. Originality
I am 69 years old and I miss Bloom. He was someone I turned to for answers of a literary nature. He was a critic who fairly rated works based on their literary merit and explained why he held the opinion he did. This caused no end of vexation for the PC crowd who have infiltrated the universities today. His stature protected him from being fired but now that he has gone people within literary circles have decided to expand the so-called Western Canon to reflect the diversity we have in our societies without much attention to the merit of the works they wish to include. Bloom never bowed to the waves of popular culture so when asked by Charlie Rose what he thought of the frenzy that was provoked by people lining up to buy Harry Potter for their children, Bloom said he had read it and thought it was slop.
The Visionary Company!
Спасибо из Украины .
I was looking for information about Harold Bloom and have found your chanel.Thank you very much.
дякую, що дивишся мої відео)) Happy reading over in Ukraine!
Bloom taught me to read aloud, particularly poetry.
Known as "The man who has read everything ".
Including cereal boxes. Lol.
Just what I was looking for. Thank You.
You're so welcome :)
The only one I don't have is Till I end My Song. I love Bloom; but he is an author who gives but also takes away.
never heard of him, but thanks to you I might check out one of his books, "The bright book of life" in our local bookstore and bury myself in it!🤗
Tremendous book. I think you'll love it :) It has some spoilers for different novels, however, so exercise caution!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy cool! thanks for the advise!😊
A Fabulous Survey of Harold Bloom!
Thank you, Elizabeth :)
I'm shocked to say I read The Book of J years ago. Interesting theory.
Thanks for the list. Bloom has always seemed too full of references that are beyond me. I have not read “How to Read…” maybe that’s a good one to pick up.
Bloom is definitely a dense read. A single sentence from him can keep me occupied for a very long time, demanding me to search out his allusions. Absolutely, his 'How to Read' is a great one to pick up. I returned to it recently and loved it all over again :)
My opinion is it’s a very good place to start. You might see my comment above.
I want to get his anthologies! And How to Read and Why. But I have way too many unread books to go through so it would be impractical to buy them to just sit on my shelf. 😭
Bloom's Poetry Anthology should be required reading in every school.
Absolutely!
'The Art of Reading Poetry' was pretty good.
You'll love his anthology of poetry then as I believe this was taken from his preface to that work :)
Bloom was a genius
Love this episode
Ben I have and have read through Bloom's Shakespeare: Invention of the Human and How to Read and Why. I have also listened to Bloom speak on youtube (before death of course). I know I should appreciate his work more, but I find it inaccessible at times, somewhat confusing (when he compares, for instance, another work of Shakespeare when discussing a different work)., and a bit boring. I am a voracious reader so I wonder if you could help me to learn to appreciate him more?
I love Harold Bloom. He’s beautiful.
Well, you left out "Kabbalah and Criticism," an early work that is the basis of everything else he wrote, although that may be an exaggeration. Bloom knew Gershom Scholem, the great scholar of Kabbalah who was also an intimate friend of Walter Benjamin, a superlative purveyor of literary insights. Anyway, Scholem is a formative influence on Bloom as a literary critic, the Jewish roots, so to speak.
I should add that Jorge Luis Borges and Gershom Scholem met in person and quite took to one another!
Could you make the list available? Thanks ❤️
I would also include Jesus and Yahweh: The Names Divine. As well as a book, entitled, Genius.
I have a bone to pick with Bloom because he kinda crapped on John Steinbeck and I think he was plain wrong about that. East Of Eden is the work of a master. I would rank it equal or above anything by Faulkner or Hemmingway. I don’t think you can write a masterpiece like East Of Eden and be considered a lesser writer than ANYBODY. He also didn’t seem to care much for Cormac McCarthy outside of Blood Meridian and All The Pretty Horses. As if The Crossing and The Road are not brilliant.
If I were a billionaire, I’d set up Harold Bloom memorial libraries, and maybe even some Harold Bloom Universities, in which students would study nothing but the books he most admired and recommended. Every literature lover is going to have to fight to save the canon. The woke mob want it replaced - and they are serious about this. I even saw a book in Waterstones called ‘How to De-Colonise Your Bookshelves’!!! Thank god for Bloom.
Me too.
Harold Bloom is so very missed in this world.
I love Harold Bloom but have only completely read Hamlet: Poem Unlimited and Shakespeare: Invention of the Human. I purchased The Western Canon some time ago but have only perused it and have yet to read it from cover to cover. I love that he hated Harry Potter and other YA books which have destroyed education in the United States, but I wish I knew his opinion on popular fiction of the past like Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. Those were popular fiction in their time, and I wonder if he hates those stories and novels as much as he hates modern day works of fiction like Harry Potter.