William Faulkner

Bloom's Major Short Story Writers

by Harold Bloom (Editor), Ellyn Sanna

- A biographical and critical review of the world's most important writers- Expert analysis by Harold Bloom- A wealth of information on the writers that are most commonly read in high schools, colleges, and universities.

Genres: Literary Criticism, Nonfiction, Essays

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Harold Bloom was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was called "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking world." After publishing his first book in 1959, Bloom wrote more than 50 books, including over 40 books of literary criticism, several books discussing religion, and one novel. He edited hundreds of anthologies concerning numerous literary and philosophical figures for the Chelsea House publishing firm. Bloom's books have been translated into more than 40 languages. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1995.
Bloom was a defender of the traditional Western canon at a time when literature departments were focusing on what he derided as the "school of resentment" (multiculturalists, feminists, Marxists, and others). He was educated at Yale University, the University of Cambridge, and Cornell University.

Reviews

[Fabiola Miranda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, so this book taught me that Faulkner had a recurring theme of innocence, incest, and I won't spoil the rest for you! I'd recommend it if you've read any of his books (even though I haven't). Honestly, after reading this, I'm not so sure I want to go read them...but who knows...maybe I will.

[Charles Bechtel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading critical compendiums of an author when one is an author himself (or herself, as this case is not,) can be a frightening experience, because transference is a real activity that leads to nightmares. Faulkner is, in this collection of critical analyses, often damned with faint praise that usually forms around the notion that he was a genius, when what he had was genius, the genius being a comprehensive grasp of his community and the variety of people in it, while at the same time exploding with the forces within him that were formed by the circumstances of his time and place of birth, the frame of family from which there was no escape, and the atmosphere of creativity that surrounded the times of his expressions.

It was the smell and sight of these critics flaying and filleting him and his work, digging into him with the intensity of a pathologist over a corpse, that frightened this author. The scare drives me into questioning each and every word that I have and might yet summon out of my own genius, all of the elements of scene and sense that I might create out of memory and experience, that may prove too revealing, too exposing, for me to suffer.

But if the reader of these essays are kin to those pathologists, then I suppose what is my terror is their manna, and I say go for it. These critics do a pretty good job of removing Faulkner's clothes, broadcloth and buttons, as well as his flesh, his muscles and bones, with the intent of discovering the motivation and soul of a man driven to expose himself as much as necessary.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was surprised by the number of typos in the section titled "Biography of William Faulkner" by Debra Gordon. Other than that, it's a good mini-bio of Faulkner. Of the four sections dealing with Faulkner's writings, I think Portia Williams Weiskel's "On the Writings of William Faulkner" is the best (four stars). Michael Millgate's "Faulkner and History" is okay (three stars), as is Robert Penn Warren's "William Faulkner." The last critique, "William Faulkner's Style" by Warren Beck, seems pretentiously academic (two stars). Overall rating: three stars.