T.S. Eliot

Bloom's Modern Critical Views

by Harold Bloom (Editor)

Discusses five of T.S. Eliot's most influential "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," "La Figlia Che Piange," "The Waste Land," "The Hollow Men," and "The Journey of the Magi"

Genres: Poetry, Literary Criticism, Criticism

87 pages, Library Binding

First published December 1, 1985

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

[JeffBarber67 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Critical overview of Eliot's impact on literature, poetry, and culture. The problem is this--the essays were all written between the 1920s and 1980s and they all pretty much aggressively name drop contemporary critics and poets with little explanation
. From the vantage point of the 21st century, such illustrious names as Matthew Arnold, Cavalcanti, and Robert Grosman mean nothing to me---only that if I want to really understand this bit of serious scholarship then I must go and research more dry old dusty bones. I am not sure-when Denis Donoghue refers to the juxtaposition of "Lawrence and Eliot" as critical to modern literature--who Lawrence actually is. D.H. Lawrence? Lawrence of Arabia? Lawrence Welk?
Vicki Lawrence--I suppose that Mama's Family has a lot in common with Ash-Wednesday, at that.
No last name is ever given, so if you do not already belong to the cult of literary critics, then abandon hope of understanding who or what is being discussed.
Surely there is a cautionary tale here about highbrow literary critics who spend most of the day huffing their own farts out of brown paper bags, reclining languidly on fainting couches, clutching wrinkled ascots in ink-stained fingers. Alas!

[Dary]

genuinely helpful!

[David Withun · Rating 4 out of 5]

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[David Withun · Rating 4 out of 5]

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