Harold Bloom's Shakespeare [Hardcover]

Christy Desmet (Editor), Robert J. Sawyer (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0312239556 | ISBN-13: 978-0312239558 | Publication Date: January 12, 2002 | Edition: 1st

Harold Bloom is one of the most influential—and controversial—of contemporary Shakespeare critics. These essays examine the sources and impact of his Shakespearean criticism. Through focused and sustained study of this writer as literary icon and his Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, the essays address a wide range of issues, from the cultural role of Shakespeare to the ethics of literary theory and criticism.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Bloom's exhaustive examination of all of Shakespeare's plays, Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, was published in 1998 to great critical acclaim and became a best seller, a rarity for a literary study. Bloom's veneration of the Bard and his dismissal of most contemporary Shakespearean criticism, however, has made him a target for scholars who do not share his opinions. This collection of 18 essays, which came about at a 2000 conference in Toronto of the Shakespeare Association of America, examines Bloom and his theories. Three of the articles praise Bloom's book, ten are opposed to most aspects of his work, and five are mixed. The essays run the gamut of present-day critical studies, ranging from historical and character perspectives to criticism with feminist or racial slants on individual plays or themes. Primarily for scholars who are fascinated by literary controversies, this book is recommended for graduate-level collections in academic libraries. Morris Hounion, New York City Technical Coll. Lib., Brooklyn
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

"The essays run the gamut of present-day critical studies..." --Library Journal

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; 1st edition (January 12, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312239556
• ISBN-13: 978-0312239558
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,090,223 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bloom still controversial, June 11, 2006

By 

a reader - See all my reviews

This review is from: Harold Bloom's Shakespeare (Paperback)

This anthology was recommended to me by someone who loved Bloom's huge
book Shakespeare and the Invention of the Human. The recommender hadn't
read it, but thought it would be a celebration of Bloom. It partly is, but mostly
it takes up the controversy over Bloom's role in the literary reception of Shakespeare over the last twenty years. Most of the essays are very readable and enjoyable. Particularly good are essays by Hawkes, Fahmi, Desmet, and Charnes. Linda
Charnes' concluding essay "The Two Percent Solution: what Harold Bloom forgot" is
a knockout, a tour de force on what's wrong, and right, with Bloom, and with literary criticism in general these days. Anyone interested in the controversy over Bloom and the Bard would greatly enjoy reading through the essays in this book.