Harold Bloom's Literary Theory and Jewish Mysticism

Foreign Literature Studies ›› 2020, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (1): 124-134.

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Harold Bloom's Literary Theory and Jewish Mysticism

Zhai Naihai

Online:2020-02-25 Published:2021-02-26
About author:Zhai Naihai is an associate professor at the School of Foreign Languages, Shandong Normal University (Jinan 250358, China). His research mainly focuses on Western literary theories and Jewish American literature. Email: zhainaihai@hotmail.com
Supported by:
“Harold Bloom and Jewish Exegetical Tradition”(14CWW001) sponsored by the National Social Science Fund of China; “The Jewish Resources in the Contemporary American Literary Theories” (19CWZJ41) sponsored by the Social Science Fund of Shandong Province

Abstract

Abstract: Harold Bloom, though not an orthodox Jew, is a theorist who tried actively to incorporate the traditional Jewish culture into his literary theory and criticism. Through Kabbalah, a form of Jewish mysticism, instead of normative Judaism, he connected with the traditional Jewish culture and discovered the cultural origin of his Jewish self-identity. In addition, Bloom integrated the Kabbalah myth into his literary theory and critical discourse, endowing his literary concepts, such as “anxiety of influence,” “misreading,” and “facticity,” with distinctive Jewish characteristics. Bloom's poetics of influence seems to have resulted from the interplay between Jewish culture and the ideas of Romanticism and American individualism.

Key words: Harold Bloom, Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, poetics of influence, literary theory

Zhai Naihai. Harold Bloom's Literary Theory and Jewish Mysticism[J]. Foreign Literature Studies, 2020, 42(1): 124-134.

References

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