Philip Roth

Bloom's Modern Critical Views

by Harold Bloom (Editor)

This title, Philip Roth, part of Chelsea House Publishers' Modern Critical Views series, examines the major works of Philip Roth through full-length critical essays by expert literary critics. In addition, this title features a short biography on Philip Roth, a chronology of the author's life, and an introductory essay written by Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of the Humanities, Yale University.

188 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1986

About the author

Harold Bloom was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was called "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking world." After publishing his first book in 1959, Bloom wrote more than 50 books, including over 40 books of literary criticism, several books discussing religion, and one novel. He edited hundreds of anthologies concerning numerous literary and philosophical figures for the Chelsea House publishing firm. Bloom's books have been translated into more than 40 languages. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1995.
Bloom was a defender of the traditional Western canon at a time when literature departments were focusing on what he derided as the "school of resentment" (multiculturalists, feminists, Marxists, and others). He was educated at Yale University, the University of Cambridge, and Cornell University.

Reviews

[Cymru Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mainly picked this up for the commentary on Portnoy's Complaint. I figured it would offer some suggestions on where to begin when reading Freud (the answer is, duh, just frickin' read Freud). The analysis of Portnoy is good but not profound. I still maintain one's own interpretation is as important as any essay's. Dr. Spielvogel's response was a very good assessment of the novel though, IMVHO.

The coup de grace is Irving Howe's systematic dismantling of Roth in his essay "Reconsidering Roth." There's always been something missing in Roth's books preventing me from truly loving the works, and I could never in a lifetime sum it up as succinctly as Mr. Howe.

That Harold Bloom, an avid proponent of Roth and his works, would include such an essay as Howe's shows the quality of the selection of essays provided in this volume. Granted, when this came out Roth hadn't written American Pastoral or The Human Stain or many others, and much of the analysis focuses on his first two novels and first short story collection, a mere fraction of what he has produced up to now. If you get a handle on Portnoy though I feel like you've penetrated the main core of Roth as a writer (for better or worse, Portnoy's is a disagreeable voice to carry in your head for too long).

I love the Modern Critical Views series, helmed by Bloom. He's a master curator. Reading these collections is like getting to have a bunch of disparate conversations with highly educated people about the literature you love the most.