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Harold Bloom, an know American literary critic, publish in 1994 The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages.
Bloom defends the concept of the Western canon, which includes a collection of essential literary works of the Western Civilization. He defends that canon against what he calls the “school of resentment”—a group that includes feminist literary critics, multiculturalists, marxist scholars, deconstructionists, and others. These critics, according to Bloom, prioritize political and social activism over aesthetic values.
The essential literary works of the canon are considered foundational and enduring, shaping the cultural and intellectual heritage of the Western world.
Bloom identifies 26 writers whom he deems central to the Western canon. These writers span different epochs and genres, leaving an indelible mark on literature.
One of the critics made to the book is its narrow focus on British literature, overlooking works from other European countries.
Half of the total number of writers, 13, are English-speaking.
He leaves out other important writers such as Dostoevsky, Petrarch, Bocaccio, Schiller, Hölderlin, Balzac, Stendhal, Flaubert, Rimbaud, Pushkin, Gogol, Melville and others.
The Western Canon focuses on 26 writers, but in a series of appendices, Bloom lists hundreds of books by various other writers that he considers canonical. Bloom later rejected the list, claiming that his editor had insisted on it.
The full list can be found here:
http://www.interleaves.org/~rteeter/grtbloom.html
Despite its flaws, The Western Canon is an important work that celebrates the timeless treasures of Western literature.
Bloom defends the concept of the Western canon, which includes a collection of essential literary works of the Western Civilization. He defends that canon against what he calls the “school of resentment”—a group that includes feminist literary critics, multiculturalists, marxist scholars, deconstructionists, and others. These critics, according to Bloom, prioritize political and social activism over aesthetic values.
The essential literary works of the canon are considered foundational and enduring, shaping the cultural and intellectual heritage of the Western world.
Bloom identifies 26 writers whom he deems central to the Western canon. These writers span different epochs and genres, leaving an indelible mark on literature.
| Writer | Country |
| William Shakespeare | England |
| Dante Alighieri | Italy |
| Geoffrey Chaucer | England |
| Miguel de Cervantes | Spain |
| Michel de Montaigne | France |
| Molière | France |
| John Milton | England |
| Samuel Johnson | England |
| Johann Wolfgang von Goethe | Germany |
| William Wordsworth | England |
| Jane Austen | England |
| Walt Whitman | USA |
| Emily Dickinson | USA |
| Charles Dickens | England |
| George Eliot | England |
| Leo Tolstoy | Russia |
| Henrik Ibsen | Norway |
| Sigmund Freud | Austria |
| Marcel Proust | France |
| James Joyce | Ireland |
| Virginia Woolf | England |
| Franz Kafka | Austria-Hungary |
| Jorge Luis Borges | Argentina |
| Pablo Neruda | Chile |
| Fernando Pessoa | Portugal |
| Samuel Beckett | Ireland |
One of the critics made to the book is its narrow focus on British literature, overlooking works from other European countries.
Half of the total number of writers, 13, are English-speaking.
He leaves out other important writers such as Dostoevsky, Petrarch, Bocaccio, Schiller, Hölderlin, Balzac, Stendhal, Flaubert, Rimbaud, Pushkin, Gogol, Melville and others.
The Western Canon focuses on 26 writers, but in a series of appendices, Bloom lists hundreds of books by various other writers that he considers canonical. Bloom later rejected the list, claiming that his editor had insisted on it.
The full list can be found here:
http://www.interleaves.org/~rteeter/grtbloom.html
Despite its flaws, The Western Canon is an important work that celebrates the timeless treasures of Western literature.
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