Harold Bloom: The Yale scholar on Falstaff and ‘the death of humanistic studies’.

From Weekend Confidential, by Alexandra Wolfe. Print: WSJ April 8-9, 2017, p.C17, vol. CCLXIX, no. 81. Online: www.wsj.com/articles/harold-blooms-critical-thinking-1491582477

Comments on the interview:

Clearly, this WSJ interview is another warning of the decline of the humanities. For 50 years, Professor Bloom has been involved in efforts to support the humanities, especially literature.¹ He says the cause is lost. Yet bleak present conditions should not prevent continued efforts for humanistic studies. One aspect of the present problem is a lack of awareness and substantive discussion: keeping the educational issues alive. This aspect of the larger problem is not helped by settling into quiet resignation. More attention is needed, not less. So there is a certain danger in Bloom’s fatalism. (This is not meant to detract from his past or present efforts; or to overlook his obvious “issue” fatigue.)

Bloom’s life and ideas are well worth attention, and this interview reflects this. Yet we should question his fatalism about humanistic studies. Such difficult situations – this is not to be underestimated — call for insistent work and discussion. Although taken from a text for musical studies titled “Harmony”, Walter Piston’s closing sentence offers encouragement: “Ars longa, vita brevis, but consolation may be derived from the thought that intellectual and artistic rewards are to be found at all stages along the way.” (books.wwnorton.com/books/webad.aspx?id=11186)

Edward Eggleston

¹    It seems obligatory to reinforce his view of the humanities as involving a true hierarchy of achievement, reflected in the great emphasis placed on Shakespeare. As found in the interview, this traditional or core idea in humanistic study has lost much of its past meaning and role.