Shakespeare: Invention of the Human: The Invention of the Human

Front Cover
Penguin Publishing Group, 1998 - Literary Criticism - 768 pages
13 Reviews
Reviews aren't verified, but Google checks for and removes fake content when it's identified
"The indispensable critic on the indispensable writer." -Geoffrey O'Brien, New York Review of Books

A landmark achievement as expansive, erudite, and passionate as its renowned author, this book is the culmination of a lifetime of reading, writing about, and teaching Shakespeare.

Preeminent literary critic-and ultimate authority on the western literary tradition, Harold Bloom leads us through a comprehensive reading of every one of the dramatist's plays, brilliantly illuminating each work with unrivaled warmth, wit and insight. At the same time, Bloom presents one of the boldest theses of Shakespearean scholarships: that Shakespeare not only invented the English language, but also created human nature as we know it today.

From inside the book

 

What people are saying - Write a review

User ratings

5 stars
5
4 stars
2
3 stars
6
2 stars
0
1 star
0

Reviews aren't verified, but Google checks for and removes fake content when it's identified

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - AliceAnna - LibraryThing

A scholarly, yet not pretentious look at Shakespeare's works as a reflection of human nature. A very good reference work. Read Bloom's take on any play before reading/seeing it, and you will surely get much more out of it. Read full review

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - HadriantheBlind - LibraryThing

Typical Bloom - some extremely insightful and enlightening insights, and some that are completely bizarre and absurd. Good for referencing Shakespeare and for finding interesting bits. I admit that ... Read full review

Contents

Shakespeares Universalism
1
The Comedy of Errors
21
The Taming of the Shrew
28
Copyright

35 other sections not shown

Other editions - View all

Shakespeare: Invention of the Human: The Invention of the Human
Harold Bloom
Limited preview - 1999
Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human
Harold Bloom
Snippet view - 1998
Shakespeare: Invention of the Human: The Invention of the Human
Harold Bloom
No preview available - 1999

Common terms and phrases

ambivalence Antony and Cleopatra audience authentic Barabas Barnardine Bastard become Ben Jonson Berowne Brutus Caesar Caliban character Christian comedy comic consciousness Cordelia Coriolanus critics Cymbeline death Desdemona doth drama Dream Duke Edgar Edmund eyes Falstaff and Hamlet father Faulconbridge final Fool genius give Goneril Hal's hath heart Henry human imagination Imogen invention irony Jonson Juliet King Lear Lady lago lago's Lear's Leontes lord Love's Labour's Lost lovers Macbeth madness Malvolio Marlowe Marlowe's Measure for Measure Mercutio moral murder nature never Noble Kinsmen Olivia Othello outrageous parody passion perhaps Pericles personality play's poet Posthumus pragmatically Prince Prospero Richard Richard III role Roman Romeo Rosalind scene seems sense sexual Shake Shakespeare Shylock Sir John Sonnets speak speare speare's spirit stage sublime Tempest thee Thersites Theseus thou Timon Titus Andronicus tragedy transcends Troilus and Cressida Twelfth Night Ur-Hamlet Venice villain

References to this book

About the author (1998)

Harold Bloom is a Sterling Professor of 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. He lives in New Haven and New York.

Bibliographic information

QR code for Shakespeare: Invention of the Human
TitleShakespeare: Invention of the Human: The Invention of the Human
AuthorHarold Bloom
Editionreprint
PublisherPenguin Publishing Group, 1998
ISBN157322751X, 9781573227513
Length768 pages
Subjects › 

Biography & Autobiography / Literary Figures
Literary Criticism / Drama
Literary Criticism / Shakespeare
  
Export CitationBiBTeX EndNote RefMan