Bloom’s Shakespeare

Abstract

The product of a self-confessed High Romantic Bardolator, Harold Bloom’s massive Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human will be welcome reading to all true Shakespeareans. Full of insight and wit, along with some seemingly outrageous assertions, it is invariably provocative and intellectually stimulating. Where Bloom goes wrong is usually in occasional errors of chronology (Titus Andronicus following Richard III) or attribution, although he sometimes makes extremely questionable interpretations or evaluations, as in his remarks on Romeo and Juliet (e.g., the way the play should end). These faults are easy enough to spot; hence, no real damage is done, and what damage does exist, is more than offset by the contributions to our understanding of Shakespeare, his work, and ourselves.