Charles Dickens' Bleak House

by Harold Bloom (Editor)

Book by

175 pages, Library Binding

First published September 1, 1987

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

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

When reading "important" books, it's helpful to have some guidance. In the case of "Bleak House" I had an excellent discussion leader and wonderful classmates. If you are without those assets, reading a critical interpretation or the work can give you some of the fullness in the novel.

There are seven essays in this book. They are very academic. All opened my mind to new aspects of the novel that I had not considered such as the role of ghosts, the significance of the "deaths" and the feminist perspective. It's not light reading, but well worth it.

What reading such a book brings to mind is my chosen inability to spend much of my reading hours on re-reads. There is nothing I would like to do so much as to re-read "Bleak House" right now, but the stack of unread, need-to-be-read books is calling louder.

[Deborah Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Am rereading this for the third or fourth time after having looked at some humorous books and am relishing the depth of Dickens's writing. Trying also to read it more slowly which allows me to see better how carefully he sets up elements in the first chapters which will be developed throughout the novel. Love the beginning on London's fog, mud and griminess. There's so much to savor--the characters and the way they intersect one another's lives and, of course, the searing depiction of chancery.