(June 14, 2010)
[Want your letters published? Then, please include your first and last names and your city and state of residence. Also, please, enter in the subject line of your e-mail "Letter to the Editor," and specify the article or the subject on which you are commenting.] Anti-Zionist-anti-Semitism: Maxwell Clark's Harold Bloom On The Jewish Question To the Editor: How accurate of Maxwell Clark to single out Harold Bloom as the Grand Panjandrum of literary criticism. ("Harold Bloom on the Jewish Question," Swans, May 31.) "Pontifex maximus" is right. But at least the pope of Rome is elevated by an election. Conniving cardinals vote for him. Bloom's eminence comes from playing university teachers of literature off against themselves. They get twisted up in theory, specialize authors to death and refuse simply to read books and tell us about them. The astute Bloom climbs up on the wall like Humpty Dumpty to give us an over-all view. He forsakes the jargon of the lecture hall for a weird and windy biblical lingo. Nothing is more impressive in a nation of non-readers. But after all the snooty crowing, Bloom lays the same old stale egg. He says in mandarin that it's anti-Semitic to criticize Israeli foreign policy. Peter Byrne Lecce, Italy - June 1, 2010 ********** We appreciate and welcome your comments. Please, enter in the subject line of your e-mail "letter to the editor," and specify the article or the subject you are commenting on at the beginning of your e-mail. Also, ***PLEASE,*** sign your e-mail with your name ***AND*** add your city, state, country, address, and phone number. If we publish your opinion we will only include your name, city, state, and country. Send your comments to the Editor. (Letters may be shortened and edited.) |