He can read only English and Yiddish. He reads translations.

>>8912418

I'm pretty sure he knows most of the romance languages, including ancient Greek and Latin. I remember he said he can't read Russian though.

>2017
>listening to Harold Bluhm

>>8912443
Listening to any anon, 2017?

>>8912418
>2017
>reading the canon
L O L

>>8912418
Who takes this guy seriously in the first place?

>Hmm, yes. There's something in Whitman that I can't pin down. Something that keeps me coming back.
>Hmm yes, Macbeth, yes. Pure phantasmagoric bliss. Hmm yes. The very best of Shakespeare's plays
>Emerson? Why he simply invented us. Hmm, yes. Shakespeare too. Wonderful writers.

I have never once heard or read anything this man has said or written that contains any substance. Nothing you could note down other than he enjoyed it. The reasons he eschews theory is because he is a professional fart-smeller.

>>8912418

Actually, Bloom can read quite a few languages as I recall. As >>8912433 said, Greek and Latin for one.

>>8912534

>I have never once heard or read anything this man has said or written that contains any substance.

You're thinking about things too Socratically. Bloom talks about poetry/drama first and foremost - you aren't going to get arguments built solely, or even chiefly, upon reason.

don't forget: he hates hard bop and john coltrane

>>8912534
is harold bloom the donald trump of literary criticism?

"shakespeare is the best writer. incredible writer. his characters - let me tell you - these characters are so real its like theyre real people. people all over the world love shakespeare. hes universal. this is what people are saying. hamlet, nobody ever wrote a play like that before. its phenomenal. and again, his characters, they're so real its like they're more real than me and you. the best writer."

>>8912621

He loves John Coltrane, but only his early stuff. He said he "could do without the spiritual stuff," or something like that.

bloom has good taste and can read really fast.

he has zero talent as a literary critic.

Reminder that aesthetics is the only worthwhile way of seeing the world.

>>8912683
pretty much

>>8912683

t. poster with no discernible talent

Yeah, you're right OP.

Bloom has so little merit that Yale went out of their way to give him his own department, rather than see him leave.

Yeah right.

Sad.

@haroldbloom writes: Yale loves Bloom so much they gave him his own department. Haters continue to hate. Sad!

>>8912534
kek

His voice is mellow.

>>8912418

However much I dislike Bloom, I will forgive him anything for taking a principled stand against the politicisation of literature. By that I mean subjecting great works to the lens of a particularly ideology, examining them for a particular cause/narrative/etc.

A Feminist interpretation of Shakespeare? A Marxist interpretation of Jonson? And so on. Can you imagine?

>>8912815
There is no "pure" intepretation of literature free of ideology.

>>8912827
This

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57KB, 576x436px

>>8912827

>There is no l'art pour l'art

Fucking Zizek posters.

>>8912815
he basically does a freudian interpretation of shakespeare but claims that freud originates in shakespeare, therefore its not "freudian" and part of the school of resentment

>>8912743
probably they want to quarantine him because he refuses to do stuff like use a computer to look up books in the library catalogue and still uses a fountain pen and refuses to teach anyone except undergrads

>>8912836
>l'art pour l'art

ugh, what a bourgie concept.

All educated people read translations and not doing so is a retarded /lit/ meme

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>Tfw you will never have Bloom's memory or reading speed

>>8912418
>>8912443
>2017
>not listening to Harold Bloom
m8

>>8912931

>I'm wholly convinced that Human memory in general has declined with the advent of TV/internet/etc

People like Bloom, who can recite whole poems/etc off by heart, are a dying breed.

>>8912962
Is this uncommon? I can recite all my favorite poems by heart, just because I read them so often

>>8913002

>Is this uncommon?

Very, apparently. I haven't met anyone who can.

Maybe I just live in an illiterate hellhole.

Is Bloom still teaching?

>>8912836
There isn't, never has been, and never will be.

>>8913002
>Is this uncommon?
Well, most people aren't autistic, anon. They don't feel that sense of safety you do, when you do the same thing over and over again.

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>>8913243

kys ideologue

Are Bloom's books good?

>>8912663
>could do without the spiritual stuff

thats the definition of pleb lol

Ascension and Giant Steps are pretty much the best albums ever.

>>8912658
I mean, is that statement wrong?

>>8913682
No, he's right. You're a pleb.

>>8912418
So what?

>>8913093
a class of undergraduates and one of post-graduates once every week in his home

>>8913664
poor post to start the year desu m80

>>8912931
He doesn't have some genetic fluke, he just reads a lot and has read a lot since childhood. If you can't see yourself reading as often as him you don't really want it anyways.

>>8915849
At the height of his reading he could read about half of what I read in a year in just under a week and I read between 50-80 books a year. There is more than just training going on. He is well known for his exceptional memory. It's the only possible way for him to actually comprehend and retain anything he reads at his ridiculous speeds.