The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages
by Harold Bloom

List Price: $20.00
Our Price: $8.25
You Save: $11.75 (59%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $1.23 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions

Book Summary Information

Book Reviews of The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages

Book Review: Immortal Literature versus Political Academia
Summary: 5 Stars

Bloom is possibly the preeminent literary critic in America and is well-known for his theory of the anxiety of influence, reflecting his belief that, "there can be no strong, canonical writing without the process of literary influence." Bloom contends that, "any strong literary work creatively misreads and therefore misinterprets a precursor text or texts" and that "tradition is not only a handing-down process or process of benign transmission; it is also a conflict between past genius and present aspiration...[a] conflict [that] cannot be settled by social concerns, or by the judgement of any particular generation of impatient idealists."

Bloom places Shakespeare and Dante at the center of the Western Canon and claims that any writers who follow must inevitably wrestle with their greatness. This bold contention is a courageous and provocative one that requires a satisfying justification. But Bloom, in accordance with his reputation, rises to the challenge, surveying the vast landscape of literary criticism and presenting the greatest passages of analysis on the reasons for Shakespeare's greatness. Although many critics are quoted, the German writer Goethe is granted the final word: "Shakespeare confers on [his characters] intelligence and imagination; and by means of the image in which they, by virtue of that intelligence, contemplate themselves objectively, as a work of art, he makes them free artists of themselves." Bloom subsequently concludes that the singular excellence of Shakespeare is "his power of representation of human character and personality and their mutabilities" and leaves us with the observation that "at once no one and everyone, nothing and everything, Shakespeare IS the Western Canon."

In the remaining chapters, Bloom continues his analysis of the major canonical figures, carefully applying his criteria of aesthetic value throughout. The chapters are organized according to age: the Aristocratic Age, the Democratic Age, and the Chaotic Age (understood to begin with the twentieth-century and including the present day). The major figures include Milton, Wordsworth, Austen, Whitman, Dickinson, Eliot, Dickens, Tolstoy, Joyce, Woolf, Kafka, Beckett, Borges, and a few others. The Appendix offers a suggested reading list of well over 500 authors from all ages that Bloom considers worthy of reading.

Bloom's book serves as a touchstone for literary criticism and the teaching of literature, and I would certainly recommend it for both academic and public libraries. The reader follows an experienced and formidable literary critic in his analysis of the strongest literary works. In the process, the reader learns a great deal about literary textual analysis and our body of Western literature. The reader also gains a sense of the current debate surrounding the canon in our universities and the present nature of literary criticism as it is being practiced. Bloom cannot hide that he is most disturbed *not* by the right wing moralists but the academics in the School of Resentment who aim to replace aesthetic value and high standards with a program for social justice as the principal criteria of literary excellence. Bloom extends his lament by discussing other elements of contemporary society, including MTV, short attention spans, inpatient readers, failing public schools, professors of cultural politics, the loss of love for reading and good literature, and the predicted conversion of Departments of English to literature-depleted Departments of Cultural Studies. In the end, even if you don't fully share his views, you cannot help but sympathize with Bloom's genuine concerns, be moved by his cogent arguments, and respect his learned and masterful analysis of the literary art he loves so well.

Summary of The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages

Reference Books

• Subjects > Literature & Fiction > Books & Reading > Reference
• History & Criticism > Criticism & Theory
• United States > History & Criticism