Kabbalah And Criticism

Description:
The kabbalah, the mystical Judaic system, is given a compelling analysis by the world's leading literary critic. 'Kabbalah and Criticism' may justly be regarded as the cardinal work in Harold Bloom's enterprise. It is the keystone in the arch, clarifying the development of his earlier books, and pointing to the direction of his later ones. 'Kabbalah and Criticism' provides a study of the Kabbablah itself, of its commentators - the 'revisionary ratios' they employed - and of its significance as a model for contemporary criticism.

Table of Contents:
Prologue: That, too, I must have known; Kabbalah; Kabbalah and Criticism; The Necessity of Misreading; Epilogue: The Name Spoken Over the Water. Introduction; 1. Does the Testament of Abraham Belong to a Genre?; 2. Humour in the Testament of Abraham; 3. Characterization of Abraham; 4. Characterization of Michael; 5. Death in the Testament of Abraham; 6. The Plot of the Testament of Abraham; 7. Comparison of the Greek Manuscripts; 8. Conclusion; Appendix 1: The 54 Narrative Units of the Testament of Abraham; Appendix 2: Citations of the Three Manuscript Families; Bibliography.

Author Biography:
Harold Bloom (b. 1930) is Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University, Berg Professor at New York University, and a former Charles Eliot Norton Professor at Harvard. He is the author of more than twenty books, including The Anxiety of Influence; Deconstruction and Criticism; The Western Canon; Shakespeare: The invention of the Human; and Where Shall Wisdom Be Found?