"I swear I will never again mention love or death inside a house, And I swear I will never translate myself at all,only to him or her who privately stays with me in the open air.
-Whitman [Leaves of Grass]
Interview With Harold Bloom
Interviewer: You talk about Shakespeare as a demiurge. Your attitude seems almost religious.
Harold Bloom: But isn't what we experience when reading the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament the same as when we read Homer, Shakespeare, Cervantes, or Proust? Isn't the difference between the scriptures and worldly literature only social and political? The centuries-long polemics on the contrasts between poetry and faith can perhaps be reduced to the question of whether we should consider one poem or story holier than another. I have long since come to the conclusion that we can say with certainty that any powerful literary work is holy. And the opposite claim, that it is worldly, is equally valid. But it would be completely senseles to consider any great literary work holier or worldlier than another.
Now I am starting a book that may also interest you that I have always wanted to write and I think I am old enough now and the title is rather ironic Exodus and Higher Culture. Jewish high culture has influenced the proceses of high culture in Rusia, Germany, Spain, the United States, South America. It's a very complex thing. By exodus I don't actually mean the exodus from Egypt. That was a Greek word that translates. The Hebrew word that Yahwa first says to Abraham and later says to Moses in Hebrew is yetsiat, which is best translated as "get yourself out", pick yourself up and get yourself out, get out to the world and then on to the public ground. And so the whole notion of global higher culture as a kind of exodus. Get yourself out of yourself. Get yourself out of the bondage of yourself. I think what we call nineteenth-century romanticism and twentieth-century modernism are variations of this exodus. What we see today in the United States, also in the so-called "culture studies", is the death of Europe, it's the twilight of Europe.
www.eurozine.com/articles/2005-10-07-bloom-en.html
Here are some valuable resources for use in the event words are confusing, or meaning isn't clear:
The American Heritage Dictionary, Houghton Mifflin
The Synonym Finder, J. I. Rodale
Roget's College Thesaurus
The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms. Murfin, Supryia M. Ray
Beginning Theory: an introduction to literary and cultural theory. Barry, Peter
-Whitman [Leaves of Grass]
Interview With Harold Bloom
Interviewer: You talk about Shakespeare as a demiurge. Your attitude seems almost religious.
Harold Bloom: But isn't what we experience when reading the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament the same as when we read Homer, Shakespeare, Cervantes, or Proust? Isn't the difference between the scriptures and worldly literature only social and political? The centuries-long polemics on the contrasts between poetry and faith can perhaps be reduced to the question of whether we should consider one poem or story holier than another. I have long since come to the conclusion that we can say with certainty that any powerful literary work is holy. And the opposite claim, that it is worldly, is equally valid. But it would be completely senseles to consider any great literary work holier or worldlier than another.
Now I am starting a book that may also interest you that I have always wanted to write and I think I am old enough now and the title is rather ironic Exodus and Higher Culture. Jewish high culture has influenced the proceses of high culture in Rusia, Germany, Spain, the United States, South America. It's a very complex thing. By exodus I don't actually mean the exodus from Egypt. That was a Greek word that translates. The Hebrew word that Yahwa first says to Abraham and later says to Moses in Hebrew is yetsiat, which is best translated as "get yourself out", pick yourself up and get yourself out, get out to the world and then on to the public ground. And so the whole notion of global higher culture as a kind of exodus. Get yourself out of yourself. Get yourself out of the bondage of yourself. I think what we call nineteenth-century romanticism and twentieth-century modernism are variations of this exodus. What we see today in the United States, also in the so-called "culture studies", is the death of Europe, it's the twilight of Europe.
www.eurozine.com/articles/2005-10-07-bloom-en.html
Here are some valuable resources for use in the event words are confusing, or meaning isn't clear:
The American Heritage Dictionary, Houghton Mifflin
The Synonym Finder, J. I. Rodale
Roget's College Thesaurus
The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms. Murfin, Supryia M. Ray
Beginning Theory: an introduction to literary and cultural theory. Barry, Peter
- Last seen on Jul 26 12:16 PM. Member since October 6, 2005.
- I'm a carnelian hope poet for 109 comments.
- My mood is , and quote is "Back it up or shut up
I have 109 comments, 16 poems
My Poetry
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The missing L and V
flicker with back yard -
Nothing About what the screen displays Is virtual29 lines, 5 comments, November 16, 2005. In Contemporary
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Tolerance to get tail,
Feign listen to someone -
I am a decade an era,
the speaking remnants31 lines, 21 comments, November 13, 2005. In Contemporary
Guest Book
1 - 3 of 3
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Cynicism101 on November 17, 2005You get bonus points with me just because you have a Harold Bloom quote on your page - looking forward to reading some stuff on here.
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Heart Sutra on November 16, 2005I like the updates to your author page! It is more interesting to visit here!
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wbiro on November 15, 2005and a warm welcome to AP! If you have any angst, this is the place to get it out! (in your writing, of course, not on us poor witless poets!)
