Overview

Full Product Details

9780226060453

Table of Contents

Reviews

Bloom, model for the protagonist of Saul Bellow's latest novel, Ravelstein, was the conservative American critic who challenged the 'dumbing down' of the American education system with his book The Closing of the American Mind (1987). He saw America as dominated by the mass media, popular culture and the claims of minorities and set himself up as the protector of the high cultural tradition. In this book, Bloom portrays Shakespeare as a towering figure who could show human love in all its aspects. He analyses seven plays in detail with reference to the problems of erotic connection, supporting his argument with other (male) writers from the Western tradition such as Plato, Homer, Nietzsche and Locke. The controversial aspect of Bloom's account - and the one that separates him from current ideas about literature - is that he dismisses historical context as of little relevance compared to the 'permanent' questions about human dilemmas with which Shakespeare engages. He has no time for literary theory. Great works are, for Bloom, a mirror to nature not a way of transforming it and they need 'submission', that is study and hard work. Yet ironically, Bloom was allegedly a gay man who died from an AIDS-related illness, and thus a member of one of the minorities which his books attempt to sideline. The reader can detect Bloom's struggle underlying the text: the need to 'place' his own sexuality without giving in to the idea that he is 'radically isolated' and to justify it as one of many flawed attempts by human beings to aspire to Beauty. This book will appeal to readers who like surveys of great literature from an Olympian perspective, such as George Steiner's work. However, female readers and anyone who thinks literature exists only within its historical context will find it profoundly reactionary. (Kirkus UK)

Author Information

At his death in 1992, Allan Bloom was the John U. Nef Distinguished Service Professor in the Committee on Social Thought and in the College at the University of Chicago. He is the author of several books, including Shakespeare's Politics (with Harry V. Jaffa) and The Closing of the American Mind.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available