|
|
Post by Bardolator on Jun 20, 2002 1:33:51 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by shaxper on Jun 20, 2002 10:50:56 GMT -5
Well at least roughly 1% of what you paid will go to him  So what attracts you to this particular critic? Can you tell us a little bit about him? |
|
|
|
Post by Bardolator on Jun 23, 2002 4:13:07 GMT -5
Warning: This is a little long.
I swear that the following is true. Be patient after reading the Hazlitt stuff... there's a pretty scary anecdote at the end of this lecture...
Tempted as I am to go to the Norton Anthology of English Lit for bio, I realize that's cheating so here goes, top of the head stuff... Hazlitt was one of the Romantic Poets, damn good but slightly overshadowed in the classroom by the many, many Romantic poets that are all the rage (Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Byron, Shelley, etc.). But as a critic, those who are into character analysis find him virtually without peer, right up there with Bradley, Johnson, Chesterton (whom I haven't read)... Goddard and Bloom rave about him. Those who like to view the plays beyond the characters (Bloom & Co. label them historicists, feminists, deconstructionists... it's a long list) will probably say Bradley, Hazlitt, et. al. are out of date.
Now, ALL of that being said, I enjoy reading Hazlitt, especially his take on Iago (quoted at length in Bloom's book) and King Lear. FWIW, I can't claim membership to any school of criticism. While I'm sure I'll have to take sides eventually, for now I'm enjoying reading all sorts of views on the play (I hope one day to teach Shakespeare but that's a few years off).
Now, for the slightly scary stuff. A few months back, I'm taking a walk at night, reading Hazlitt's book by streetlight. Six young men come up to me and ask me what I'm reading. I look down at the book and I get slugged in the eye. I didn't fall (luckily, I have a very hard head), got slugged in the head again... and I start running. They don't follow me but they are laughing and one guy says, "Thanks for the book!". And they run off. I call the cops, fill out a report at the scene and that's it.
Two things:
a) The kids were apparently 'wilding'--the cops said I was victim number three that evening for these hooligans. A few days later, they were caught assaulting some elementary school kids and trying to steal their bikes. And...
b) The Hazlitt book was a library book. I told them what happened. They charged me thirty bucks for the lost book and said I could have it back when the book was found. Frankly, I had more fun being mugged... and I'll get back to them about paying that thirty dollars. In the meantime, I'm purchasing books... and I've ordered Hazlitt's. Should be here any day now...
|
|
|
|
Post by shaxper on Jun 24, 2002 12:09:47 GMT -5
Yeesh! That doesn't sound fun. I'd imagine the thugs didn't find much literary use for the book. So sorry.
I'm sure I must have read of Hazlitt before since I have read numerous excerpts from Bloom's "Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human", though the name does not ring a bell. I think I'd enjoy reading him though, if for no other reason than that I get very tired of reading contemporary academic critics who only write to promote their own careers or to support a line of criticism. It's always refreshing to go back and read Coleridge or Jonson writing on Shakespeare simply because they found him remarkable. I'll keep an eye out for him. Thank you.
|
|
