Move Over A.S. Byatt, Bloom is Back

Sylvia sent us this article from The Atlantic Online in which literary critic Harold Bloom again spouts off about Harry Potter, calling it "rubbish". A quote:

I went round to the Yale bookstore and purchased an inexpensive paperback copy of the first volume. I could not believe what was in front of me. What I particularly could not bear was that it was just one cliché after another. In fact, I kept a little checklist on an envelope next to me, and every time any individuals were going, as you or I might say, to take a walk, they were going to "stretch their legs." At the fiftieth or sixtieth stretching of the legs, that was too much for me.

Editorial note, solely for clarification: There is exactly one stretch of any leg in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone.

Not only has this man not read the books -- which he proved by that little slip up, do you know what book he has just put out?

Bloom's newest book, Hamlet: Poem Unlimited, is essentially a love letter to Shakespeare and his most famous creation. The book was born out of Bloom's dissatisfaction with his own 1999 work, Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human. After devoting a lengthy chapter to Hamlet's themes and origins, Bloom realized that most of his true feelings about the play had not made it into print. To remedy this mistake, he wrote Poem Unlimited, a slim volume that strips away history and theory to reveal Bloom's most personal responses to his favorite work of literature.

Okay, you know what that means to me (a die-hard shakespere fan, no less?)? It means that this guy, apart from having any creativity, has to depend on the work of other writers like the great will shakespere to get his book published. This man is basically not only stealing someone else's great work so that his will get recognized, but he's using a "J.K. slam" to gain publicity. Frankly, people like that are sad. If you read the article, this appears to be all he does: infurirate fans of real authors, and just work off someone else's idea. You know what, Bloom? At least J.K. is original.

The full article (like you care about this windbag)

http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/intervi...t2003-07-16.htm