Blogging the Canon

Oh Summer, Where Did You Go?

Christopher — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 16:51:35 +0000

I have been absent minded of late to get this blog functioning to my standards. I guess you can say I have had a break on reading the canon for some quick adventure style genre fiction (not bad).

I participated in the Multnomah County Library’s Summer Reading challenge, adults just had to read five books over the summer, but for the life of me I can not remember the fifth book that I filled out on my form. Alas, none of them were classics.

However I recently purchased Oxford World Classics King James Bible so I will be spending the fall reading that, very exciting, will post reviews of each book of the bible here for discussion.

Bloom on Canonical Strangeness

Christopher — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 16:23:15 +0000

I’m making my way through Bloom’s The Western Canon and one of his recurring themes concerning the canon is that of “canonical strangeness.”

I have argued throughout this book that originality, in the sense of strangeness, is the quality that, more than any other, makes a work canonical.

It is funny to me then, that Bloom tends to shy away from what he terms cultural prophecy when it comes to the twentieth century (a body of literature that he firmly places in the Chaotic Age).

I do not disagree about the classification of twentieth century literature being placed into the chaotic age, but I do think if we look for works from this age that will stand the test of time we can use Bloom’s strangeness as our guide. I will attempt to do so as a side project on this blog.

My Simple Goal

Christopher — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 03:20:06 +0000

In word: Classics. The focus of this blog will be simple, my reviews of my time spent reading books that Harold Bloom assembled as an appendix to his magnificent book, The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages.

Some of them I have read (but will re-read in an effort to more thoroughly log my experience), some of them I have shied away from, but they all must be analyzed and will, by me, from an aesthetic framework only. I will read these books for two reasons: 1. To better understand myself, and 2. To prepare for my eventual matriculation into graduate school.

My goal will be to read a novel from each of Bloom’s ages. I will keep a page devoted to current reading with identification from which age as well as a page devoted to books completed. In the sidebar I will post a link to someones excellent work at making a digital list of Bloom’s canon.