How to Read and Why by Harold Bloom Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of How to Read and Why
Book Review: excellent
Summary: 5 Stars
Unfortunately, a lot of university and high school English departments have been overrun with zealous anti western teachers. Bloom calls it as it is: literature should be read for the sake of itself. It should be appreciated on its own merit and any self-enlightenment which is granted to the reader; for too long, a majority of academics have 'espoused a social purpose in reading'.Book Review: interesting but unsatisfying
Summary: 3 Stars
Much of Bloom's recent--that is, post-The Western Canon--fare has the flavor of being written for the sake simply of publishing another book or for broadcasting his literary affinities. Having some familiarity with Bloom's ideas and passions, I know this not to be the case; there's always something more to his books. Still, How to Read and Why possesses that written-on-the-fly quality, and while Bloom's assembly of diverse and interesting pieces of literature is excellent as always, I ultimately found the book to be unsatisfying.Aside from some introductory hows and whys, the book never really explains, satisfactorily, how we should read and, more importantly, why. He speaks of reading to re-capturing irony, of reading to accustom ourselves to change (and especially to the final and universal change), of reading because we cannot hope to meet all people. This is all true, of course, and the book might have been more successful had he pursued those threads and others throughout the text. After the introduction, however, Bloom begins his analysis of literature, broken down into sections on short stories, poetry, plays, and novels. The analyses are often interesting, sometimes wrong (just my opinion...for example, his opinions of Flannery O'Connor and Dostoevsky are severely limited here, as they were in Bloom's more recent Genius; in How to Read and Why, both writers receive similar treatment from Bloom, in the form of D.H. Lawrence's admonition, "Trust the tale but not the teller"), but they are his; they show only one "how" of reading; they are not readily generalized.
Yes, literature is enriching and enlightening; it enhances the experience of being alive. The insights it offers are diverse and often debatable. That's all part of reading's allure. But too often Bloom allows his analyses of works to speak for themselves, to show by their simple existence how and why to read. Perhaps this is mildly justifiable, since most folks who pick up a Bloom book are likely bibliophiles themselves. Nevertheless, and even to a bibliophile like myself, the book proved interesting but not entirely enriching.
Book Review: thoughtful, provocative, a little arbitrary
Summary: 4 Stars
Distinguished literary scholar Harold Bloom writes of the joy of reading, which he perceives as a deeper, wider way of understanding, not limited as is our own experience, or our friendships however diverse they may be Since we are limited in space and time to read, he presents us with his selection of short stories,poems, plays, and novels which merit our careful reading. Along the way, he subtly jabs "political correctness", and its humorless polemic which has warped the literary canon as he sees it. For the most part I agree with him, that many lauded works today are simply not worth the time it takes to read them, however earnest the authors, however solemn their causes. Bloom may oversimplify when he classifies modern writers by those authors of the past who seem to influence their works, whether Shakespeare, Cervantes, or others. His selection of novels especially, seems to me to be subjective and arbitrary;
other scholars would list other works, and you will probably have a list of your own that differs from Bloom's.
Thoughtful, written with a courteous, balanced tone, "How to Read and Why" deserves a place on your shelf. Recommended.