bookpresentation bloom's the western canon
TRANSCRIPT
The Western Canon
By Harold Bloom
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Harold Bloom
• 1930 – present• American literary critic and Professor of Humanities at Yale University
• Wrote 20+ books on literary criticism
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Claim
• Aesthetic value is autonomous from morality and politics
• Aesthetic originality as ‘entry ticket’ to canon
• Analysis of 26 EU-US writers, from Shakespeare to Beckett
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Dante and Shakespeare
• Cognitive strength
• Linguistic energy
• Power of invention
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Chronological periods
• Theocratic age: from ancient Near East to Middle Ages
• Aristocratic age: from Dante to Goethe
• Democratic age: 19th century• Chaotic age: 20th century
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
School of Resentment
• Use of literature to promote social agendas
• Bloom argues against this: instead aesthetic pleasure and self-insight
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Politics
• Should have no place in literary criticism
• Reducement to ideology: poem becomes social document
• Preserving poetry as fully and purely as possible
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
The western canon
• Standard of measurement• Foundation for cultural thinking and individual thinking
• Rarely new works added
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Context
• 1994• 1990s Postmodernism • Questioning basic concepts of knowledge, science, education, literature and tradition
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Reception
• “Probably the most celebrated cultural critic in the U.S.”
• “America’s best known man of letters”
• But also in the middle of literary controversy
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Connection with modern art
• 20th century: new art, new music, new literature
Bloom: cherish western traditions and cultural foundation
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Thank you for your attention!Any questions?
Why is the existence of the western canon important and what criticism may be given?