For Bloom, Collection Was Too Rich
Michael Scharf -- 2/9/98
When putting together an anthology, according to Harold Bloom, the surest way to produce "a Stuffed Owl of bad verse" is to take into account "the race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, and political purpose of the would-be p t."Bloom believes The Best American P try 1996 to be a bird of that feather. In selecting among past volumes for the Best of the Best of American P try 1988-1997, due this April from Scribner, the notoriously ultra-high-brow Yale professor couldn't find "more than an authentic p m or two" in the volume -- neither of which he included. "[That volume] is of a badness not to be believed," Bloom writes in the introduction, pronouncing it "a monumental representation of the enemies of the aesthetic." Although Bloom fails to name the editor of the 1996 edition, a flip of the page reveals it to have been Adrienne Rich, a p t who is something of an eminence herself. "I think that that volume really had several remarkable p ms," commented series editor David Lehman. "It was my feeling that those p ms should be anthologized and perpetuated -- and I think I'm a pretty presuasive arguer -- but Bloom, like Rich, is of very strong opinions." Rich, recovering from recent surgery and deeply involved in the composition of a new book of p ms, declined to comment. Back To News---> |
