is Harold Bloom right to worry about the future of literary theory? English departments seem overtly focused on certain social issues that have nothing to do with literature or aesthetics
>>7456186
this girls knows nothing about logic and grammar. Do not bother to reply to me, because you will be wasting your time.
I think Bloom is a classist, poncy snob who never stopped being mad at hippies.
in other words, the honorary king of /lit/
>>7456186
Yes.
The ego on these stememers is ridiculous.
>>7456186
Meh, is that so bad?
If she's openly a dick on her profile, then even guys studying in a STEM field would notice that and move on.
This is really a personal thing.
At the college I work at there's a professor who wants specific things in the essays of his students, thereby eliminating any semblance of critical thinking.
>>7456213
--so I think there's some merit in what Doom N' Gloom Bloom is saying.
>>7456199
bloom btfo
>>7456213
This image is NSFW. Please delete it.
>>7456213
>mostly ugly girls
>half of them were forced by their boyfriends to do it
>the other half are misinformed or just want attention from men
>>7456225
>blaming the victims
>calling their beliefs inauthentic
not everyone is using the same operating definition of 'feminist'.
"I don't need feminism because I don't want to be able to vote or have a job" -Said no woman ever.
>>7456248
Because this definition would be totally relevant in the Western world in the 21st century.
>>7456186
Yes.
>>7456199
Bloom is love. Bloom is life. You're stupid.
>>7456248
You are probably pro gun control and don't see the temporal irony.
>>7456248
Yeah, except 21st century feminists aren't fighting for voting rights.
And honestly, the suffragettes were some trifling hoes. Why the fuck should women have been able to vote? They had basically no vested interest in the way the country was run at that point, considering the whole "separate spheres" thing.
Feminism has always been an entitled bitch fit.
>>7456285
were women even educated enough to vote cogently back then?
are they now?
>>7456223
Thanks senpai. Didn't notice it.
>>7456210
I'm a math student, and I can't barely talk to these people myself.
The Classics departments will be what deliver the humanities from evil.
>>7456213
The girls that were in this pic were correct, esp. the one that said some bitches need to be hit
>>7456225
Most were cute and if you disagree then ur a virgin
>>7456499
No, international relations and grand strategy are where it's at.
>>7456210
lmao cry more on your way to starbucks
>>7456552
Sorry for virgin-shaming btw, it's misandry
>>7456562
I'll bet you're a virgin, also sorry for shaming you for being a virgin because that's misandrist but ur a virgin
>>7456576
are u a grill
I think that's a pretty common attitude among asian immigrants in general, this nice young woman has just made it overt. asians can be pretty arrogant and aloof in my experience.
>>7456582
Yes and I want you to cook your hot dog inside of me
Hey OP, what's you Kik/Skype? I'll hit you up!
>>7456556
what is the "realism" of literary theory
is it bloom?
you have just as many critical theory influenced schools in IR and PS/E. especially since marx pretty much invented social theory.
>>7456584
Most Asian women I know think of themselves as princesses and live well beyond their means. If they don't live like a princess, they have the attitude of a temporarily embarrassed princess.
>>7456552
Nah you just have really shitty standards my man
>>7456186
>cute girl who will never want me
:'(
>>7456565
This post is totally sincere, btw. There's nothing wrong with men not having sex, and to suggest otherwise is misandristic social conditioning, and can be psychologically scarring.
>>7456600
I'm from Vancouver too, forgot to mention.
>>7456616
>drawn on eyebrows
you don't want that mate
>>7456604
>Marx invented social theory
Who is David Hume?
Critical theorists are permitted to exist in academies, but unlike realists or liberals their ideas are never translated into policy because they make a point of being malcontents who just complain about everything. It's the same with feminism.
>study supports feminist ideology
Yay, go our team!
>study doesn't support feminist ideology
The methodology/ontology/epistemology must be wrong! This is quite problematic.
In truth I would prefer an alliance between my field (IR) and Classics since without you guys we wouldn't have Thucydides, who we can all agree is fucking based.
>>7456608
The girl second from the top left and the one in the bottom were SUPER cute definitely, and several others were quite attractive, so fuck. off.
>>7456562
everyone goes to starbucks though
>>7456212
shit, man, the fact that she's STEM is reason enough why she's on a fucking dating site to begin with. Who in a high-level Thermodynamics class is going to attempt small-talk with the qt Asian girl to their left? They'd rather talk about League of Legends among other dudesnot that libartsbros aren't autistic either
>>7456662
everyone except you is lame, of course
>>7456300
Don't know enough about history to answer for sure, but I guess 'no' for the first.
Certainly 'no' for the second. Women seem only to study English as means for becoming fucking elementary school teachers. They have no interest in politics. The only ones who do are the tumblr memers who like Sanders because of how wacky it is for such an old man to run for prez
>>7456665
Nah, I'm pretty boring. I just called myself autistic for majoring in libarts, if you understand how to read spoilers
>>7456679
I thought people didn't 'major' in libarts, they do an Arts degree and major in something specific like history or literature or philosophy.
>>7456672
Most people in general aren't educated enough to vote. Nobody knows what's best for them, democracy is a sham, a modernized version of Plato's republic is the ideal society
>>7456186
His complaints have been echoed backwards in time to the beginning of sentimental literature.
People forget that the original consumers of novels were women.
>>7456186
Why start the thread with rageb8 image though? It's obviously made just to trigger people
Also Bloom is a hack that can't take criticism and has little insight into what he talks about, really. Even if he's right about literary theory
s future, which he might be
>>7456196
Girl on the left is a qt
As an English major, and now English teacher, I think Bloom is a shitty person with shitty ideas.
It's much more interesting to read books for their cultural context and what they reveal about the society they were written in and human nature more broadly. Reading things from a close reading standpoint without considering any historical context all of the time is boring. Certainly it has merit, but it cuts off so many avenues to understanding.
Basically:
New Historicism > New Criticism
It's just more fun and interesting.
>>7457677
>I secretly wanted to be a historian but I'm an idiot who can't be bothered with "research", "sources", "archaeological evidence", or other such nonsense, and want to focus purely on baseless speculation
>>7457677
You will not do well spouting such ideas in the big old hugbox that is /lit/
That said, this years big award winners and nominees (James, Yanagihara, Obioma, Alexievich, Thiong'o, etc) really lend themselves to your argument, rather than older anglo classics.
>>7457693
He/she is actually making a living with an English degree, which is more than I can say for the rest of the humanities undergrads I see here.
t. Stay at home dad with a history degree
>>7456248
I don't want to work and voting is for gays and women anyway, where's my nega-feminist movement?
>>7457677
And another thing: The historical approach may be interesting if you go in completely blind and try to figure out things about the historical context.
But you don't do that. You go in the opposite direction, you begin by making up a fantasy about what the early 19th century was like, then you read that fantasy into Austen, all the while imagining that you are discovering or confirming it. It's a bizarre charade...and for what? For whom?
>>7456186
I'm studying psychology. Which is why I'm reading up on Freud now. Next Lacan.
>My future job actually has literature surrounding it of immense interest even if it won't be applicable on the job.
I know this girl, she consistently posts selfies along with her amazon gift list for freebies as sponsored by her dim witted followers.
She reeks of narcissism.
http://generally.tumblr.com/post/134603398256
>>7457677
>As an English major, and now English teacher
oh kek that certainly gives you a credential to say anything bad about Bloom with authority, huh
I agree that his approach is too much the other direction, but New Criticism actually can say something valuable about a text itself; new historicism leads to english professors teaching you more about Lacan or Freud or some retarded "orientalism" or "are vibrators queer sex?" essays than the books themselves. It's fucking awful.
>>7457693
I'm certified to teach social studies too. So I combine my disciplines.
>>7456186
Not entirely.
I'm writing an essay on academic freedom and political correctness atm, and I read some of the Western Canon as well as essays arguing against his anti-PC comments.
Bloom's idea of uphold aesthetics over other elements is laudable, and applicable, but it sort of precludes more thematic or semiotic readings : the kind that are (ultimately) the most significant and most noticeable.
Being able to find what a book is trying to SAY is a hell of a lot easier than breaking down the mechanics of how it works better than others, they're almost inexorably conjoined.
That said, there are plenty of overly PC professors who'll not study any literature with offensive words (Mark Twain / Conrad / Steinbeck).
He really expands the issue bigger than it is: but it IS a problem with some people. I'd say that the breakdown is something like 20% of professors on opposite ends of the political spectrum, and 60% just sort of passive or apathetic. At most, maybe an extra 10% on the PC side of things.
>Also
STEM bitch aint even attractive for an asian.
>>7456186
> English departments seem overtly focused on certain social issues that have nothing to do with literature or aesthetics
So what? Let the Anglos continue their downward spiral. Learn multiple languages and eschew Anglo pop-media culture and do not feed with attention the small-minded knee-jerk philosophers aka SJWs.
If you're not studying at least one of the following languages, you've fucked up: French, German, Italian, ancient Greek, Latin, classical Arabic, Persian, Mandarin, Russian, Finnish.
>>7456499
this guy gets it
>>7456186
>is Harold Bloom right
Not really but a broken clock is right twice a day. He's not the only person to say that people are getting dumber, fighting non-problems, and their relationship with technology is unhealthy and bad for intelligence.
Most of Bloom's literary criticism is useless. A pompous, ironic attachment to Falstaff, and just a lot of Freud thrown around.
>>7457775
you sound ugly and bitter
>>7456186
its the birth pangs of post-modern intersectional study
People who criticise the English department's emphasis on social issues don't really understand what exactly is happening within academia. It isn't a shift towards a humanistic criteria within literary studies, its the development of higher education as a whole - if your english degree isn't constituted by ideas as varied as sociology, evolutionary psychology, neuroscience, aesthetic theory, semiotic theory, theology, political philosophy and biopolitics, you've fucked up badly
>>7457660
girl on the left is lewis from robocop
>>7456622
Ahhh fuck, I hadn't even noticed that.
Illusion shattered.
>>7456186
she is nothing but a souless bread eater. I bet she was never even moved by the written word
>>7457677
>implying bloom is part of new criticism
way to completely discredit yourself, i feel sorry for your students since their teacher has no understanding of his subject
>>7458434
>she is nothing but a souless bread eater
wat
>>7456285
>Biggest political platform of the suffragettes was prohibition
>Alcoholism and spousal abuse were so rampant half the country had to demand voting rights to keep the other half from beating them an inch from death every night
>no vested interest
I don't even know what stem means.
>>7458434
someone needs to do the tasks of robots that we haven't created robots to do yet. She puts down something because it is beautiful yet she knows deep down she cannot ever into aesthetics. It is like a sad robot. it is deeply depressing to see a girl like that, I think if I knew more facts you'd feel even more pity for her
>>7458546
*STEAM
>>7458546
its always a google search away but I will tell you. It stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.
>>7458555
Wait, so all those stem fags are arrogant because they went engineering and shit? That's hilarious.
>>7456186
Id feign an interest in Feynman just to inseminate her only to afterwards tell her I am in the humanities all along.
>>7457775
>He really expands the issue bigger than it is: but it IS a problem with some people. I'd say that the breakdown is something like 20% of professors on opposite ends of the political spectrum, and 60% just sort of passive or apathetic. At most, maybe an extra 10% on the PC side of things.
I'm an English student, this is actually pretty correct. A lot of Professors just like their favorite books and areas of study, read a lot in that area, read a bit outside of it, and want to be left alone from "theory" etc. Harold Bloom is held in general regard still, most of the older professors commonly like to talk about the anxiety of influence idea all over the place. Younger professors seem to be more "resentment" school, but it's mixed. The young female professors are more likely, and in fact mostly, "resentment".
eh desu Academia is dead for humanities, let it die and rebirth itself in a few decades.
>>7456186
You usually expect the whole posting-with-a-burrito-in-front-of-a-webcam thing from humanities students.
>>7457677
>New Historicism > New Criticism
whynotboth?.jpeg
Historicist readings can render texts as bland as rote/ruthless close readings.
>>7456605
>>7456584
These are all generalizations but I have noticed that every single Asian woman that's ever been walking in front of me through a door has never held it open, they always let it fall closed behind them.
>>7456499
I'm not sure what you mean. I was partially in the Classics department at uni just last year and though it was a tight-knit group, it was small and they were trying to legitimize the study to incoming students using market-based rhetoric. Additionally, considerations of slavery and women are in vogue, which relies on sparse archeological evidence rather than even-sparser textual evidence.
>>7458648
>they always let it fall closed behind them.
I always do this
america is fat enough already, they should be grateful for the opportunity to burn calories by operating a door
