Harold Bloom - Critic in the Active Voice

[@sattarabus]

Harold Bloom is one of the rare bands of savants who straddle both the hemispheres of the brain and the globe with a wealth of erudition which promotes sweetness and light rather than turgid, pedantic, punditry. He deserves Nobel Prize for his cognitive prowess and chutzpah !

[@sattarabus]

A cognitively rich video. I rejoice in employing Bloom's favourite adjective i.e. 'cognitive'. He uses it quite frequently in a chapter on Emily Dickinson in the Western Canon.

[@misterparadise9542]

I have had the honour of meeting and speaking with Professor Bloom twice, and have read and been guided by many of his books since reading *The Western Canon* in 1994. I enjoy this video and think it gives a good introduction to Bloom.

[@ryanjavierortega8513]

mister paradise Paul de Man and Professor Bloom were great friends...imagine them joined by Steiner!

[@dloyfwaymeather977]

reading it now

[@AAwildeone]

I'll never get the chance - because I'm too old and have not the money - to study under this man. I went through college at a fantastic university, where he was kind of a talisman signalling disgust and approbation. Since then, at 39yo, suffice it to say, I have actually become educated - as a person, as a citizen, as a writer. Thank you so much PROFESSOR!

[@AAwildeone]

These dancers btw are simply wonderful

[@AAwildeone]

Henry Adams is the writer who made Vico popular in America, as Gore Vidal (whom of course EVERYONE secretly respects and adores) states in an early essay. What bothers me among so much I love with my Bloom is this : he is so fond of pointing out greatness avoided by greatness (Freud certainly read Neitzsche! even though Freud denied it, and Bloom considers it a conscious mis-step), who have been the ACTUAL precursors to Bloom? He credits Samuel Johnson as MAJOR (as if he's the inheritor, actually), and others as if they are minor deities in the field; but he accuses Freud of having left important guys out - one must wonder, as such a prolific writer, exactly WHOM has he not exactly credited as part of his formulations?

[@AAwildeone]

Sic...

[@AAwildeone]

True readers, deep readers, are, in essence, attempting to become (as Oscar Wilde took up Kierkegaard's vanguard) an authentic Artist of the Self...whether there is a possibility of a True Self to be discovered at the core, or whether the engine runs out and the bottom of the Surface is to be accepted as Reality itself, or all is relative and all Life deserves from us is what We give It as opposed to the morality of what Life has supposedly given to Us...these poems, novels, plays, epics, essays propel us as a species, as one people, forward...there IS NO FUTURE without ART, because ART is our universal shout AGAINST Nature...perhaps, it might not work, but nothing yet has really protected us against it, except for the powers of our own discovery and understanding...

[@dloyfwaymeather977]

Soren Aleksander Fair play sir!

[@pietrobordi3359]

Well said. The philosophy of Giacomo Leopardi summarised eloquently. It is our solidarity against the true vicissitudes of mother nature and its cosmic forces that propels our humanity, expressed through art and literature. The arrogant anthropocentrism of the current society foolishly forgets the true human condition on earth. This is what I can add to your comment. Well said sir, well said.

[@hakmagui9842]

Old comment, gold comment, Sir.

[@intotheprog]

Arvo Part's "Tabula Rasa" in the introduction sent shivers down my spine. The rest of the video is simply inspiring (And I deal with Chinese literature, so I'm not even obliged to read his books...)

[@JohnnyCanuck32]

NO Sound! :(

[@methoz1982]

A-mazing!

[@AAwildeone]

When has the anxiety of influence resulted in a poet who is not much to be valued? I think Bloom might have many examples, but his prime one would be Plath. I disagree with this most eminent man, and hope he might reconsider Plath as a universal culmination of tragic Romanticism, taking the plight of woman for ALL history and people upon herself via her poetry. It might be deemed Decadance, but it is one to be admired and learned from, whatever result the study and magnification of it may reveal of us.

[@misterparadise9542]

I think Bloom's enthusiasm for his loved authors should encourage us to have our own enthusiasms. Don't wait for Bloom to change his mind about Plath --- celebrate Plath as you're doing and feel free to disagree with Bloom. He's not asking us to treat his opinions as holy writ! (I mean this with utter respect -- I enjoy your comments, Soren Aleksander.

[@tonyfourhunnid]

bloom's nightmare was cryptomnesia from trakl's line

[@lenmendel932]

Please, somebody help me! What does he say at minute 52:37 "I ??? goes himself or herself..."

[@SerWhiskeyfeet]

Len Mendel "Ah yes", not "I"

[@dloyfwaymeather977]

So the video centers on the western Canon?

[@AAwildeone]

Think Jacques Barzun might be a great historian who also subscribes to a Viccian notion of history, or maybe Nietzschean..."Decadance" after all has a long tradition

[@ryanjavierortega8513]

Soren Aleksander Thank you for the reference!

[@dloyfwaymeather977]

can anybody tell me what music starts at 5:54

[@user-vf8ti4dq3d]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/q6a8mYVogLWDpZY

[@oakus8503]

NO SOUND AHH

[@foreverxundefined]

Words. Speculation. Irrelevant.

[@dloyfwaymeather977]

elaborate why if you will

[@williamburleson3605]

DEAFENING

[@AAwildeone]

REALLY BAD actors...why???

[@jessicatimmins237]

shite