Very nice and thoughtful essay, though I generally disagree with the argument. Bloom himself was hardly apolitical, referring to Bush Jr. as the "decline and fall of the American empire" and Trump types as "the apocalyptic beasts from below" who will own the future if we cannot think.
Nicely done. But I think Yeats is much more important to the development of the influence theory. It seems that early Bloom is searching for a theory continuity within literary history to unify the romantic tradition. The Yeats books gets at the idea of discontinuous continuity that will be in anxiety, but without, if I recall correctly, the mechanism of agon as its engine.
thanks—well, I think my own reading of Bloom’s having fun with history enfranchises me from having to document in that essay whatever were the exact chronological steps of the development of his ideas of ‘influence’… I don’t have the Yeats book at hand but I recall Crane being rather a spectral presider over it!
I haven't really read Perloff; what's your thought about her not mentioning Crane? It doesn't seem surprising to me that someone else might not have read Bloom in terms of Crane...
"We all wish, in this land of democratic egalitarian individualism, to be our own parents, invent our own systems, owe nothing to anyone. This is our vision of freedom"
Bloom loves lists and rankings and hierarchies and pronouncements. There's never the slightest hint of modesty or humility or humor or doubt. Marianna Moore said of a poem Hart Crane submitted when she was editing the Dial: "It reeks of brains." Same for Bloom. I wish he were less Goneril and Regan, clamoring to prove and demonstrate, and more Cordelia ("love, and be silent"). "The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity." For all his self-proclaimed "genius," the simple truth of this statement is beyond Bloom's understanding.
Very nice and thoughtful essay, though I generally disagree with the argument. Bloom himself was hardly apolitical, referring to Bush Jr. as the "decline and fall of the American empire" and Trump types as "the apocalyptic beasts from below" who will own the future if we cannot think.
"The apocalyptic bests from below." He actually said that? Lord, what a gasbag.
Interesting how angry Bloom makes a lot of guys… almost like he provokes… an … anxiety
The quote from The Broken Tower should read "an instant in the wind" not "an instance in the wind" by the way
Nicely done. But I think Yeats is much more important to the development of the influence theory. It seems that early Bloom is searching for a theory continuity within literary history to unify the romantic tradition. The Yeats books gets at the idea of discontinuous continuity that will be in anxiety, but without, if I recall correctly, the mechanism of agon as its engine.
thanks—well, I think my own reading of Bloom’s having fun with history enfranchises me from having to document in that essay whatever were the exact chronological steps of the development of his ideas of ‘influence’… I don’t have the Yeats book at hand but I recall Crane being rather a spectral presider over it!
I think you're right that Crane seems more spectral. Yeats, I venture to guess, a bit more literal or immediate in the evolution of his thought.
Do you know Perloff's essay "Pound/Stevens: Whose Era?" In her discussion of Bloom, she never mentions Crane.
https://blogs.princeton.edu/poeticsofhistory/wp-content/uploads/sites/661/2019/05/468795.pdf
I haven't really read Perloff; what's your thought about her not mentioning Crane? It doesn't seem surprising to me that someone else might not have read Bloom in terms of Crane...
"We all wish, in this land of democratic egalitarian individualism, to be our own parents, invent our own systems, owe nothing to anyone. This is our vision of freedom"
Fascinating read.
Bloom loves lists and rankings and hierarchies and pronouncements. There's never the slightest hint of modesty or humility or humor or doubt. Marianna Moore said of a poem Hart Crane submitted when she was editing the Dial: "It reeks of brains." Same for Bloom. I wish he were less Goneril and Regan, clamoring to prove and demonstrate, and more Cordelia ("love, and be silent"). "The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity." For all his self-proclaimed "genius," the simple truth of this statement is beyond Bloom's understanding.