Harold Bloom: Why There Is No Walt Whitman Stamp April 25, 2012

Favorite:

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2012/03/19/Harold_Bloom_Criticism_and_Self-Influence

In a talk about the works of Walt Whitman, renowned literary critic Harold Bloom digresses about why Whitman wasn't honored with a postage stamp.

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Titled "Criticism and Self-Influence," focusing on his readings of Whitman in his first lecture and of Shakespeare in his second, these lectures are contributions to Bloom's intellectual biography. They will give a sense of how Harold Bloom reads, what stirs his mind, what he looks for, and what he projects on a text. With so impressive a list of works to his credit, Bloom will assess not only his impact on the world of literary criticism, but also his vision as a man of letters who has taught us how to think about that one subject that will always challenge our ability to think: art.

Harold Bloom is a Sterling Professor of the Humanities at Yale University and a former Charles Eliot Norton Professor at Harvard. His more than thirty books include The Best Poems of the English Language, The Art of Reading Poetry, and The Book of J. He is a MacArthur Prize Fellow, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the recipient of many awards and honorary degrees, including the Academy's Gold Medal for Belles Lettres and Criticism, the International Prize of Catalonia, and the Alfonso Reyes Prize of Mexico.