FYI

For the happy few....
http://newsinfo.nd.edu/content.cfm?topicid=21906

Harold Bloom is an idiot

I don’t mean that he is literally an idiot – I am quite willing to believe that he’s more intelligent than I am, and I am positive that he is more well read than I will ever be. Nevertheless, his pomposity is completely beyond my ability to put into words. In this Newsweek interview, he is asked to pick “unusual choices” for 5 important books. Without looking at his choices, take a guess which 5 he picks. Hint: they are by no means “unusual”. I mean, they are the five of the six primary works of the Western Canon, and he mentions the 6^th (the Bible) in the intro – allowing that he dropped it because of the “unusual” proviso (a 7th would be Paradise Lost). Anyone who knows anything about Bloom won’t be surprised that he picks these five books – but that’s the disappointment here. I would truly like to know what the most well known English language critic thinks are essential reads, besides those that are the building blocks of the western canon. That’s why something like this Newsweek feature could be interesting; instead it is infuriating.

Because his 5 choices aren’t the most ridiculous part of the mini-article.

Asked to name an “Important Book” he hasn’t read: he states “I cannot think of a major work I have not ingested” – ingested?? None? You’ve really read every important book in every language from every culture on earth? The complete arrogance of that assertion is emblematic of everything wrong with the whole notion of a Canon in literature (which, by the way, I think has great value – simply because no one can read everything worth reading, it is important to have signs and guideposts that point you to important works and authors). But when the leading promoter of the western canon asserts he’s ingested everything worth reading… Let’s just say it makes me question the validity of the concept. [Interesting aside, Slate asked noted authors and critics the question of what important works they've not read, and while the responses themselves weren’t too interesting, Dan Simon’s comment at the end of the article is – seriously, check it out].

Bloom also says that in “almost every contemporary novel, characters are [just] names upon a page” (classic Bloom, opinion stated as fact). I may come back to this in a future post, but I would vehemently disagree with this – the examples of well-crafted, real, believable characters in contemporary fiction is not a short list. Hell, Steven King and Joyce Carol Oates, two of our most prolific authors, both write living characters in every novel of theirs that I’ve read.

And finally, and perhaps most galling, when asked about kid’s lit, he states: “the two Alice books by Lewis Carroll are the finest literary fantasies ever written.” I hope it is self-evident that this is once again his opinion stated as a universal fact. I think a number of people would disagree with this statement (I think the Lord of the Rings is the finest literary fantasy ever written, but this is my opinion, as is any assertion about the supremacy of any literary piece. Quality is a different matter – things are objectively good or not; but to say something is the very best work of art is an entirely subjective statement). He then goes on to state that the Harry Potter books will end up “in the rubbish bin” and that their best selling status is the greatest “indictment of the world’s descent into subliteracy.” WOW! Now I don’t think Harry Potter is the pinnacle of good fiction, juvenile or fantasy or otherwise. I do think they are great reads, but there are v. many better written kids books and fantasy series out there (I just read Fly by Night by Frances Hardinge, which was the most satisfying kids fantasy I’ve read in a while, but I think Cooper’s Dark is Rising series, Alexander’s Prydain Chronicles, L’Engle’s Wrinkle in Time series, and LeGuin’s Earthsea Trilogy are all better than the HP series, and this is surely not an exhaustive list). Nevertheless, to completely trash the books like Bloom does here is ridiculous. I question whether Bloom has even read them, and if he hasn’t he should have listed them as his Important Books that he hasn’t read – because any time everyone in a culture reads a book, it becomes important. Even the DaVinci Code was important for this reason (as much as it galls me to say so – if Bloom wanted to indict culture because of a popular book, he could’ve gone with that one and gotten no argument from me). But Rowling has done nothing more, or less, than write an enjoyable and readable series about the process of growing up, that just happens to appeal to kids everywhere, as well as their parents, and just about everyone else. And while they might not be the pinnacle of literature, I daresay people will be reading Harry Potter much longer than they will be reading Harold Bloom.

Another fun exercise

Something that might interest some of you...a few years ago (spring 2005, I believe), MK, Andrew, and myself made an assignment that was kind of fun and prompted some introspection. Picking some of my favorite things made me think about it again. We decided to come up with a soundtrack of sorts - a list of 14 songs that would be played in the movie of our lives for the time frame we set. We decided on the time from the end of college to that spring and selected music accordingly. I thought it might be something that you all might enjoy - and maybe somebody would want to share their soundtrack with the rest of us. What parts of your life would you highlight? Gloss over? Dwell on?

Give it a go if you feel so inclined. It can be kind of therapeutic.