A far more lucid explication of Bloom's theory of "influence anxiety" than its decades-removed predecessor. ( )

I'm going to waffle here, because I didn't exactly finish this one, nor did I exactly hate it. I got about halfway through, and mostly enjoyed the sections on Shakespeare as he fits into Bloom's theme of struggle and influence, but I really fell off the wagon once the ship sailed into the waters of poetry. I really just don't "get" poetry (not with the depth that someone like Bloom wants to discuss it), and while I can appreciate the critical perspective, it was foreign, if not hostile, territory. There were some gems, like the essays on Yeats and the one on Hart Crane, but I felt out of my element reading this work.

Still, I do appreciate the message behind it, as I appreciate that this is the summation of a man's entire career, and that itself demands a degree of patience and dare I say effort from the reader. The three stars is not meant to be an indictment of the book but rather a message to myself to come back and attempt it again at a later date, when it might carry more meaning. ( )

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da 'Rizzoli.eu'