The Anatomy of Bloom: Harold Bloom and the Study of Influence and Anxiety

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Here at last is a comprehensive introduction to the career of America's leading intellectual. The Anatomy of Bloom surveys Harold Bloom's life as a literary critic, exploring all of his books in chronological order, to reveal that his work, and especially his classic The Anxiety of Influence, is best understood as an expression of reprobate American Protestantism and yet haunted by a Jewish fascination with the Holocaust. Heys traces Bloom's intellectual development from his formative years spent as a poor second-generation immigrant in the Bronx to his later eminence as an international literary phenomenon. He argues that, as the quintessential living embodiment of the American dream, Bloom's career-path deconstructs the very foundations of American Protestantism.

Reviews

Much of interest can be found in this study ... The scope of the author's work is commendable. * Times Literary Supplement *
The Anatomy of Bloom is indeed rich in research and insight, and Heyss breadth of reading is truly impressive. Heyss summary of Blooms works and his insightful commentary will be particularly of value to students interested in literary theory. ... [T]he book offers a wealth of material. * The BARS Review *
In The Anatomy of Bloom, Alistair Heys offers a clear and compelling account of Harold Blooms intellectual development and his vital contributions to contemporary critical discourse. Truly a masterpiece of exegesis and analysis, this book elucidates the origins of Blooms recurrent fascination with the concept of poetic influence and describes Blooms intellectual journey through the realms of Shakespearean drama, British Romantic poetry, post-structuralism and New Historicism. Along the way, Blooms agonistic relationship with Judaism and Protestantism is revealed as an essential key to understanding his critical engagement with the Western literary tradition. The Anatomy of Bloom provides helpful commentary and stimulating insights into the enduring significance of Harold Blooms literary criticism and theory. -- James McKusick, Professor of English and Dean of the Davidson Honors College, University of Montana, USA, and author of Coleridges Philosophy of Language and Green Writing: Romanticism and Ecology
Both complex and accessible, The Anatomy of Bloom demonstrates that there is no-one currently working in the field who knows Bloom's work as well, or reads it with such care, as Heys. -- Jonathon Shears, Lecturer in English, Keele University, UK

Author Bio

Alistair Heys is Lecturer in Romantic Literature at the Paisii Hilendarski University of Plovdiv, Bulgaria. He is the author of R.S. Thomas and Romanticism (2004) and editor of Byron and the Isles of Imagination (2009).