美国国家公共电台 NPR Harold Bloom, A Rare Best-Selling Literary Critic, Dies At 89

 

NOEL KING, HOST:

Harold Bloom, an acclaimed¹ rabble-rouser in the world of literary criticism, has died at the age of 89. While he was at Yale University, Bloom spent decades tussling with his intellectual opponents. He wrote hundreds of books and essays, and for a literary critic, he was unusually famous. NPR's Neda Ulaby has this remembrance.

NEDA ULABY, BYLINE²: Harold Bloom was born in the Bronx to immigrant parents. His father was a garment worker, and the family spoke³ Yiddish at home. Bloom did not hear English until he was 6 years old, but he fell in love incandescently⁴ with English language poetry.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)

HAROLD BLOOM: Poetry matters and has always mattered because it answers the deepest aesthetic⁵ and cognitive⁶ needs and manifests the most extraordinary aesthetic and cognitive values.

ULABY: Harold Bloom on NPR in 2002. After establishing himself as a formidable 20th-century critic, Bloom was scorned by the academic establishment for writing accessible and widely successful works of criticism. He came to poo-poo literary theory that he thought drained passion from works of genius. Many of those geniuses were white and male. Bloom allegedly knew all of Shakespeare by heart and the Hebrew Bible and vast epic⁷ poems. Here he is teaching a poem by Wallace Stevens at Yale in 2006.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BLOOM: (Reading) Clear water in a brilliant bowl, pink and white carnations⁸, the light...

Notice the pause because enjambments are very important in Stevens and particularly in this poem.

STEPHEN GREENBLATT: He possessed⁹ a gigantic amount of literature in his head.

ULABY: Stephen Greenblatt is a Harvard professor and former student of Bloom's.

GREENBLATT: It was a thrilling experience when I was a 17-year-old.

ULABY: But Greenblatt would come to butt¹⁰ heads with Bloom in what he calls his absolute belief in the genius of the canon's great writers. And towards the end of Bloom's career, he says Harold Bloom was seen as...

GREENBLATT: Grumpy and intolerant and absurd, theatrical¹¹ and overbearing and so forth¹². Somebody can find all kinds of adjectives to describe, but you set that aside to be in a kind of awe¹³.

ULABY: In 2004, writer Naomi Wolf accused Bloom of inappropriately touching¹⁴ her while she was his student. Bloom denied those charges. Bloom's type of passionate¹⁵ engagement with literature has long been unfashionable among academics, but it's actually coming back a bit among scholars who identify as postcritique. To glory in the pleasure of reading, to contain castles of language in your mind, that was Harold Bloom's gift and grace and his legacy¹⁶.

Neda Ulaby, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF BRAMBLES' "PINK AND GOLDEN BILLOWS")

1 acclaimed   

adj.受人欢迎的

参考例句：

• They acclaimed him as the best writer of the year. 他们称赞他为当年的最佳作者。
• Confuscius is acclaimed as a great thinker. 孔子被赞誉为伟大的思想家。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 incandescently   

adj.白热的；白炽的；十分明亮的；感情强烈的

参考例句：

• an incandescent musical performance 充满激情的音乐演奏
• The incandescent lamp we use in daily life was invented by Edison. 我们日常生活中用的白炽灯，是爱迪生发明的。 来自辞典例句

5 aesthetic   

adj.美学的，审美的，有美感

参考例句：

• My aesthetic standards are quite different from his.我的审美标准与他的大不相同。
• The professor advanced a new aesthetic theory.那位教授提出了新的美学理论。

6 cognitive   

adj.认知的，认识的，有感知的

参考例句：

• As children grow older,their cognitive processes become sharper.孩子们越长越大，他们的认知过程变得更为敏锐。
• The cognitive psychologist is like the tinker who wants to know how a clock works.认知心理学者倒很像一个需要通晓钟表如何运转的钟表修理匠。

7 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。

8 carnations   

n.麝香石竹，康乃馨( carnation的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You should also include some carnations to emphasize your underlying meaning.\" 另外要配上石竹花来加重这涵意的力量。” 来自汉英文学 - 围城
• Five men per ha. were required for rose production, 6 or 7 men for carnations. 种植玫瑰每公顷需5个男劳力，香石竹需6、7个男劳力。 来自辞典例句

9 possessed   

adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的

参考例句：

• He flew out of the room like a man possessed.他像着了魔似地猛然冲出房门。
• He behaved like someone possessed.他行为举止像是魔怔了。

10 butt   

n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶

参考例句：

• The water butt catches the overflow from this pipe.大水桶盛接管子里流出的东西。
• He was the butt of their jokes.他是他们的笑柄。

11 theatrical   

adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的

参考例句：

• The final scene was dismayingly lacking in theatrical effect.最后一场缺乏戏剧效果，叫人失望。
• She always makes some theatrical gesture.她老在做些夸张的手势。

12 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

13 awe   

n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧

参考例句：

• The sight filled us with awe.这景色使我们大为惊叹。
• The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。

14 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

15 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

16 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。