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shiradest's review against another edition
2.0
While I am very glad that he introduced me to the category of Essayists, I found him to be both pedantic and condescending. In short, nearly unbearable. Yet I did find his organisation of the work by Kabbalistic sephirot to be intriguing.
crankylibrarian's review against another edition
1.0
I find it hard to utter the phrase "Harold Bloom" uncoupled with "pretentious". The organizational principle used here is a prime example of why: neither chronological nor alphabetical, Bloom arranges his genius profiles by "lustres" within subcategories named after symbols from the Kabbalah. (No, I am not making this up). How does this goofball system contribute to our understanding of Cervantes and Shakespeare? Got me, but I'm sure Bloom would be happy to pontificate on it for hours.
enoughgaiety's review against another edition
3.0
My distaste for Harold Bloom and the UNBELIEVABLE pretentiousness (and the strained central metaphor) of this book wars with gratitude: Genius was what first turned me on to Paul Celan and Anne Carson, among others. So, a very ambivalent three stars here.
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