Harold Bloom: the Embattled Canon and the Experiential Critic

This is a guest post by Vishvapani, re-published here from an early issue of The Western Buddhist Review. 


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The Western Canon
By Harold Bloom
Macmillan, London 1994, pp. 567

1. Introduction: contemporary criticism’s questions and answers
What should be our central question in approaching literature? The celebrated American literary critic Harold Bloom proposes one: What is literature for? This question may sound obvious, but it is not one with...

Culture's Peak: An Interview with Harold Bloom by Vishvapani

This interview with the literary critic Harold Bloom was first published in Dharma Life, 5, Summer 1997. Harold Bloom died on October 14th 2019.

Vishvapani is a writer, broadcaster and Buddhist mindfulness teacher. His writing can be found at Wise Attention.

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When I first encountered Harold Bloom’s work, I discovered a remarkable mixture. Bloom is Professor of Humanities at Yale University, and is widely considered America’s leading literary critic. His many books combine an enormous breadth of reading...