Harold Bloom, the doyen of American literary critics and author of The Western Canon, has spent a professional lifetime reading, writing about and teaching Shakespeare. In this magisterial interpretation, Bloom explains Shakespeare's genius in a radical and provocative re-reading of the plays. How to understand Shakespeare, whose ability so far exceeds his predecessors and successors, whose genius has defied generations of critics' explanations, whose work is of greater influence in the modern age even than the ...
Read More
Harold Bloom, the doyen of American literary critics and author of The Western Canon, has spent a professional lifetime reading, writing about and teaching Shakespeare. In this magisterial interpretation, Bloom explains Shakespeare's genius in a radical and provocative re-reading of the plays. How to understand Shakespeare, whose ability so far exceeds his predecessors and successors, whose genius has defied generations of critics' explanations, whose work is of greater influence in the modern age even than the Bible? This book is a visionary summation of Harold Bloom's reading of Shakespeare and in it he expounds a brilliant and far-reaching critical theory: that Shakespeare was, through his dramatic characters, the inventor of human personality as we have come to understand it. In short, Shakespeare invented our understanding of ourselves. He knows us better than we do: 'The plays remain the outward limit of human achievement: aesthetically, cognitively, in certain ways morally, even spiritually. They abide beyond the end of the mind's reach; we cannot catch up to them. Shakespeare will go on explaining us in part because he invented us... ' In a chronological survey of each of the plays, Bloom explores the supra-human personalities of Shakespeare's great protagonists: Hamlet, Lear, Falstaff, Rosalind, Juliet. They represent the apogee of Shakespeare's art, that art which is Britain's most powerful and dominant cultural contribution to the world, here vividly recovered by an inspired and wise scholar at the height of his powers.
Read Less
Add this copy of Shakespeare: the Invention of the Human to cart. $2.07, fair condition, Sold by Your Online Bookstore rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Houston, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1999 by Riverhead Books.
Add this copy of Shakespeare: the Invention of the Human to cart. $2.23, fair condition, Sold by Valleys Books & More rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Roanoke, VA, UNITED STATES.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Fair. The cover of this paperback book has curled corners. This paperback book shows normal wear and tear. The edges of the pages have markings, spots, or stains. Shipped to you from Goodwill of the Valleys, Roanoke VA. Thank you for your support!
Add this copy of Shakespeare: the Invention of the Human to cart. $2.61, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Brownstown, MI, UNITED STATES, published 1998 by Riverhead Books.
Add this copy of Shakespeare: the Invention of the Human to cart. $2.61, fair condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Brownstown, MI, UNITED STATES, published 1998 by Riverhead Books.
Add this copy of Shakespeare: the Invention of the Human to cart. $2.61, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 1998 by Riverhead Books.
Add this copy of Shakespeare: the Invention of the Human to cart. $2.61, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1998 by Riverhead Books.
Add this copy of Shakespeare: the Invention of the Human to cart. $2.61, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1998 by Riverhead Books.
Add this copy of Shakespeare: the Invention of the Human to cart. $2.61, fair condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 1998 by Riverhead Books.
Add this copy of Shakespeare: the Invention of the Human to cart. $2.61, fair condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1998 by Riverhead Books.
Add this copy of Shakespeare: the Invention of the Human to cart. $2.62, good condition, Sold by Seattle Goodwill rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Seattle, WA, UNITED STATES, published 1998 by Riverhead Books.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
May have some shelf-wear due to normal use. Your purchase funds free job training and education in the greater Seattle area. Thank you for supporting Goodwill's nonprofit mission!
Harold Bloom sends me to the dictionary -- the OED -- more than any other author. An amazing mind, superb writer. Professor Bloom says that Shakespeare not only had an in-depth understanding of human beings, but also that he "created" us -- He is able to show that everything that makes us human is found in Shakespeare.
